Old Scars & Future Hearts
by GinnyGinervaWeasley
Summary: It's been ten years since they graduated from Hogwarts and neither Draco or Hermione's lives are how they once expected. Hermione is divorced and Draco is stuck in a marriage he can't get out of. When they start popping up in each other's lives they have two options, dwell on the past or create a new future. Which will they choose? I don't own anything Harry Potter! AU
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing Harry Potter! The title was inspired by an All Time Low song, so I don't own that either!**

 **Hey guys! I'm back with a new story that I just started. I promise I will get back to Remind Me very soon! And sorry I've been MIA for a while! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!**

"Mummy, who's that guy staring at us?" comes the voice of Hermione's daughter.

"What baby?" Hermione turns her attention down to her daughter as they ride the lift in the Ministry down to the second floor where the day care room is located. Hermione is an Auror for the Ministry, focusing in Muggle related crimes.

"That man," Hermione's daughter, Grace, points to a guy across the lobby. "Should we wait for him?" Hermione follows her daughter's finger and sees none other than Draco Malfoy walking across the lobby towards them. His once white blonde hair has darkened to a golden blonde and his usually pale skin has a hint of a tan. The last few years have definitely agreed with Draco.

"Yes we should," Hermione answers her daughter and pushes in the hold button on the elevator as Draco closes the distance between them.

"Do you know him?" Grace turns her big brown eyes up to Hermione. Grace has her father's bright red hair and pale skin and her mother's unruly curls and chocolate brown eyes.

"I do," Hermione nods, but doesn't elaborate as Draco reaches them and slides into the elevator. Even in her heels Draco is a good foot taller than Hermione and up close she can see he's even more handsome than she'd first thought across the room.

"Thank you," Draco smiles as Hermione lets go of the button and the lift doors close. "Long time no see Hermione, how have you been?" Draco's smile is wide as he asks a civil questions. It's funny thinking that at one time the two of them were always at each others throats. The years had apparently changed that as well. Hermione had run into Draco on occasion over the years since they both worked at the Ministry, but she didn't see him as much as she'd like. She would never admit that she wanted to see him more though.

"I've been good Draco. This is my daughter Grace," Hermione directs Draco's attention from her body to the child holding her hand. "Grace, this is Mr. Malfoy. Your dad and I went to Hogwarts with him."

"Are you Liam's dad?" Grace asks, cocking her head to the side and setting her gaze on Draco, clearly not afraid or intimidated by the stranger joining them.

"I am," Draco's thin pink lips break into a dazzlingly smile. Hermione still isn't used to seeing a smile on Draco's face, replacing his usual smirk. She finds it hot.

"Where has Liam been? He hasn't been at day care in forever," Grace asks, her brow wrinkled in consternation.

"His Grandmum has been in town," Draco explains, crouching down to be at eye level with Grace. There's something about Draco interacting with her child that has her insides flipping in desire. She shakes the thought away and pushes any desires that had arisen with Draco's presence as far down as possible.

"Tell him to come back soon. We never finished our game of Quidditch," Grace pulls her hand out of Hermione's and crosses her small arms over her chest.

"I'll make sure to tell him. He should be back soon," Draco smiles and stands back up as the lift doors open on the day care floor. "After you," he waves his hand for Hermione and Grace to exit first and they do, Grace grabbing Hermione's hand again and pulling her towards the day care doors.

"You're coming too?" Hermione asks in confusion as Draco falls into step next to her. His lack of child makes her question his actions.

"I figured I'd walk you up to your office when you're done dropping Grace off," he says as if his intentions are obvious as his grey eyes take in Hermione.

Hermione just nods as she and Grace reach the entrance to the daycare and Miss Hazel appears in the doorway. "Good morning Grace," Miss Hazel smiles down at the bouncing five year old. "Are you ready to spend the day with us?"

"I am," Grace smiles, energy radiating off of her. She loves coming to daycare and Hermione's glad because it's the easiest way to make sure she's taken care of while Hermione's at work.

"Remember Aunt Ginny's picking you up for dinner at the Burrow," Hermione reminds her daughter before she bounces off into the room.

"Okay Mummy, see you later," Grace waves and disappears into the room with Miss Hazel right behind her.

Hermione shakes her head and turns to Draco, ready to make their journey to the fifth floor where the Auror Department is located. "She's adorable," Draco smiles as they start walking back down the hall.

"Thanks," Hermione smiles. Grace is the only thing good that came out of her marriage to Ron. The two of them had barely made it to five years before their marriage imploded around them and they went their separate ways. It had been the best for both of them because if they would have stayed together any longer Hermione was pretty sure one of them would have ended up dead, whether on purpose or accidentally she wasn't sure. Ron and her had remained friends, that was all they should have ever been, but Grace had come from their marriage and therefor she could never regret marrying him. She was glad that part of her life was behind her and was more than ready to move one. Now all she had to do was find the time to date again between her job and Grace there just wasn't time.

"I heard Weasley's out of the picture," Draco says after a second, trying to play it off as casual, but Hermione knew he was digging for details. She wasn't sure what for though.

"We're no longer together if that's what you're asking," Hermione sends him a pointed look, making it clear she's not going to discuss the matter with him.

"That's probably for the best," Draco replies, his grey eyes making a quick sweep of Hermione's body. She can feel the inner heat start to build at the thought of Draco's eyes on her.

Hermione can't disagree with Draco's statement so she's turns the topic to him. "How's Astoria doing?" she rolls her eyes. She'd always wondered why Draco had married Astoria Greengrass, the ice queen.

Draco rakes a hand through his blonde hair and shakes his head. "Let's save that for another day." The resigned tone in Draco's voice says he's not as happy as he could be in his relationship as he could be. Hermione files that tidbit of information to the back of her mind for future reference.

There had been times since Hogwarts that she'd wondered what would have happened if Hermione had never gotten together with Ron and she hadn't spend her last years of school pining after him. Would she have ended up with someone like Draco? Surprisingly she could see that happening, but she pushed the thought from her mind.

"Trouble in paradise?" Hermione smirks as the lift doors open and they walk in. Draco leans against the rail lining the wall and Hermione takes this opportunity to let her eyes roam over his body, taking everything in from his expensive tailored suit to his emerald green tie. Something's never changed, Draco Malfoy was as hot as ever. Hermione had always wondered if the Slytherin Sex God rumors were true, now that she was single this would be the perfect time to find out. The only flaw with that plan was that Draco Malfoy was a taken man. _God Hermione, get yourself under control! Just because Draco Malfoy is standing in front of you in all his sex god glory doesn't mean you have to practically drool over him! You need to go and get yourself some action so you stop fantasizing about married men!_

"When isn't there?" Draco rolls his eyes and smiles when he catches Hermione checking him out. "Like what you see?" he asks, his silky voice a purr as he raises his light eyebrows knowingly.

"Who wouldn't?" Hermione asks flippantly, her head cocked to the side and her brown curls falling over part of her face. A few years ago if Draco'd asked the same questions Hermione would've blushed like crazy. That was no longer the case, Hermione Granger was a woman who knew what she wanted and she wasn't embarrassed about it. She took things into her own hands and got what she wanted, except this time she'd have to resist. "This is my stop. See you around Draco," Hermione sends him a flirty smile and exits the lift as it opens on the fifth floor. She saunters out of the lift, making sure to swing her hips as she left for Draco's pleasure. She refused to look back, but she knew Draco's eyes were on her.

This morning had started out like any other, but with the appearance of Draco Malfoy it had changed quickly. Hermione's mind was filled with fantasies of taking advantage of the Slytherin Sex God, too bad they would always only be fantasies.

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! I'd love to know what you think and anything you'd like to see in the future!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Thanks for reading the first chapter and following/favoriting/reviewing the story! I write for you guys so I'd love to hear what you want to read! I've got the next few chapters written out already so you should be getting pretty consistent updates depending on my schedule.**

 **And now I will leave you alone and let you read on :)**

"What's got that sex craving look on your face?" are the first words out of Ginny's mouth when Hermione walks into their shared office.

"Oh nothing," Hermione sighs as she takes a deep breath and tries to clear all thoughts of Draco out of her mind as she takes a seat at her desk and starts to go through her inbox.

"Come on Hermione, spill," Ginny rolls her chair over to the edge of Hermione's desk and props her elbows on the desk, waiting for Hermione's response.

"Fine," Hermione rolls her eyes in mock exasperation inwardly happy to spill every detail of the short lift ride. "I ran into Draco this morning," she tells an eagerly waiting Ginny.

"Mmmm, that's enough to make any breathing female crave immediate sex release," Ginny all but moans in appreciation at the thought. "That man is damn hot."

"You can say that again," Hermione nods in agreement. She still can't get the sight of Draco out of her mind.

"I'd jump his bones in a heart beat given the chance," Ginny bites her lip and shivers at the thought.

"You'd jump most guy's bones in a heart beat given the chance," Hermione shakes her head at her friend. Ginny is single by choice and loves testing out all of her options when it comes to guys. She's yet to settle down because she hasn't met anyone who can keep her satisfied or keep her attention long enough. Hermione has been subjected to many of Ginny's escapades at the clubs and bars, especially now that she's single again, and she doesn't know how Ginny does it. One night out with Ginny is enough to have Hermione exhausted for weeks, but Ginny does it almost nightly.

"True," Ginny nods, her silky red hair falling over her shoulders. "You need to come out with me this weekend. We need to get you laid, fast," she says, reading the need hidden in Hermione's eyes. It has been quite awhile since Hermione had gotten 'laid' as Ginny puts it, she usually has to rely on herself. After Ron she'd found it hard to just go home with a guy for the night unless she thought something might come from it. Something about seeing Draco this morning has her wanting to go home with the first guy she sees and see where it goes though.

Before Hermione has a chance to either agree to Ginny's plan or deny it, Ginny is speaking again, stopping any of Hermione's possible excuses. "You have to reason not to. Ron and Lavender have Grace this weekend. Come out with me Mione," Ginny's round brown eyes are pleading and she sticks out her bottom lip, giving the perfect puppy dog look to Hermione.

"Fine, I'll go with you," Hermione agrees with a shake of her head. She can't believe she just agreed to join Ginny on one of her crazy nights out, but she's oddly excited about it.

"Perfect," Ginny smiles devilishly. "We are so going to get you laid."

Hermione rolls her eyes and gets to work, the whole time her mind is on this upcoming weekend and this mornings run in with Draco.

Draco walks into his office in the Legal Department on the ninth floor right at the stroke of eight. He's making his way through the cubicles and heading towards his office along the back wall when Blaise steps in front of him, stopping him. "What's that smile about?"

Draco motions his head towards their offices that are right next door to each other and Blaise gets the point, moving out of the way and follow Draco as he makes his way to his own office. Draco flips on the lights and Blaise closes the door behind him, turning to Draco for an explanation.

"What's that smile about?" Blaise asks again as he sits down in the chair across from Draco's desk and crosses his legs, getting comfortable.

"I ran into Hermione this morning in the lift," Draco explains as he sets his briefcase next to his desk and sits down in his desk chair. He hasn't been able to get Hermione out of his head since they parted a few minutes ago. He hadn't see her in way too long and had immediately brightened this morning when he'd seen her across the lobby. He'd been ecstatic when she'd held the lift for him and introduced him to her daughter. Grace was adorable and clearly a mix of both of her parents.

"Granger?" Blaise raises a dark eyebrow in question.

"Yes," Draco nods, loving the fact that Hermione was now back to Granger and no longer a Weasley. Yes, Draco was married, but that didn't mean he couldn't fantasize about Hermione. He'd been fantasizing about Hermione Granger since she'd grown into her body back in the last few years at Hogwarts. Seeing her again today only cemented the fact that Hermione was sexy as hell. It had been so hard to resist her perfect curves trapped in her tight blue blouse and pencil skirt, her legs looking like they went on for miles. If they'd been alone in that lift from the word go, he had a feeling he would have had her pinned up against the lift wall as he kissed her senseless. Images of what those full pink lips could do were running through Draco's brain.

"You still want her, don't you?" Blaise asks knowingly, his dark eyes sparkling.

"Yeah," Draco sighs and runs a hand through his hair in frustration. Draco had been pining after Hermione Granger for years and his terrible marriage to Astoria didn't help matters at all. The fact that Hermione was now single didn't help either, when she'd been married to Weasley he'd found it easy to stay away, but now things were different. He'd need to get his head on straight before he did something stupid. Yes, he hated Astoria with every fiber of his being, but she was still his wife and the mother of his child. He couldn't let himself cheat on her, he hadn't yet and he needed to keep it that way, but one look at Hermione this morning and he was ready to throw that resolve out the window.

"What are you waiting for then?" Blaise asks, cocking his head to the side. "Would you finally end things with Astoria and get on with your life?"

"You know it's more complicated than that," Draco sighs again. Nothing with Draco and Astoria had ever been simple, it wouldn't be that easy to get rid of her. Draco was stuck if he wanted his family to remain intact and their secrets to remain secret.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. We'll go out this weekend and help you forget all about it," Blaise says as he stands from the chair across from Draco, getting ready to move on with the day.

Draco just nods and watches as Blaise walks out, leaving him alone with his thoughts which was a very dangerous place to be.

 **Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think so far and where you want this to go, so if you have any feedback send me a review or PM!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Hey, here's the next chapter. Thanks for the reviews/follows/favorites, I really appreciate them! I will not get a chance to update again tomorrow, but will have the fourth chapter up on Saturday.**

 **ENJOY!**

After a long boring day in the office, Hermione finds herself entering the Burrow to join the Weasley's for dinner. Even after the divorce, nothing had really changed in Hermione's relationship with the Weasley's. They all seemed to understand that everything had worked out for the best. Hermione had had a long meeting scheduled for the end of the day, hence why Ginny had volunteered to pick up Grace and bring her to the Burrow early.

"Hi Mummy!" Grace waves as Hermione enters the house, barreling towards her and hugging her legs.

"How are you doing sweetheart?" Hermione smiles as she sinks down to Grace's level, looking her daughter in the eye.

"I'm great Mummy. Look what Fred's teaching me," Grace squeals in excitement as she grabs Hermione's hand and tries to pull her after her. Hermione has to stand up and regain her balance before Grace can pull her along.

"What are you teaching my impressionable daughter, Fred?" Hermione asks in a mock stern voice as they reach the place where Fred is sitting on the ground with Pygmy Puffs surrounding him.

"Can I have one Mummy? Fred showed me how to take care of them," Grace looks up at Hermione with big round eyes as she takes a purple Pygmy Puff in her hand and starts to pet it.

"Can she have one Mummy, please?" Fred joins in the begging. Sending Hermione a wink when she shoots him a glare.

"We'll have to talk to your father," Hermione sighs as she shakes her head at Grace and Fred with a laugh. Her daughter is so intent on her Pygmy Puff that it takes her a second to look up and search the room for Ron. When she spots him she hands Hermione the Pygmy Puff and races across the room, bouncing up and down as she reaches Ron.

"Daddy, can I have one?" she asks, jumping up and down.

"Can you have what?" Ron turns his blue eyes to Grace, sending her a warm smile. Hermione always admired how great Ron was with Grace. He was a great dad in her opinion, even if he hadn't worked out as her husband.

"A Pygmy Puff Daddy, a Pygmy Puff," Grace jumps up and down in excitement as she pulls Ron over to where Hermione and Fred are. She grabs the small purple fluff ball from Hermione's hands when she reaches her again. "Can I please have one?" Grace turns her round chocolate brown eyes from parent to parent, her expression begging.

"What did your Mum say?" Ron asks, looking over to Hermione his blue eyes worried that he'd say the wrong thing.

"She said to ask you," Grace pipes up, petting her Pygmy Puff again. Ron raises his eyebrows at Hermione and she nods, silently saying that if he was okay with Grace having a Pygmy Puff, so was she.

"If she's okay with it, I'm okay with it," Ron nods, glancing between Grace and her Pygmy Puff and Hermione.

"Does that mean I can have it Mummy?" Grace looks hopefully at Hermione.

"Say yes Mummy, say yes," Fred joins in, trying to help Grace win them over.

"Yes you can have one," Hermione sighs in mock defeat. She knows that if Grace thinks she won her over she'd be even happier. In reality, Hermione didn't care if Grace had a Pygmy Puff or not, from what she knew they were pretty maintenance free.

"Yay!" Grace squeals, bouncing up and down with her Pygmy Puff in her hands. "Thank you Mummy! Thank you Daddy!" she hugs each of her parents legs in turns and bounces off to show everyone, whispering to her new Pygmy Puff, Puffington.

"She could have come up with a better name," Ron shakes his head as he watches his daughter bounce around the room with the purple puffball in hand. "How have you been Mione?" he turns to face his ex wife.

"I've been good Ronald, just ready for this week to be over," she sighs and brushes her hair behind her ear.

"I know the feeling," Ron shakes his head. "You sure you don't want to watch Grace this weekend? I hear Ginny plans on dragging you out with her and we both know how that could end up," Ron laughs and Hermione can't help but smile. Ron knows how crazy nights out with his sister can get, but for once Hermione is actually looking forward to going.

"No, if I bow out this weekend she'll just drag me along next weekend," Hermione laughs. "Where's Lavender?" she asks as she looks around and notices that Ron's new girlfriend is missing tonight.

"Working," Ron answers, looking after Grace who is now pestering Ginny. Not long after they split up Ron had started dating Lavender Brown again. Hermione didn't have a problem with it, she'd actually pushed them to start dating. Lavender worked at St. Mungo's and had weird hours that were always changing. Hermione knew it bugged Ron, but he dealt with it. It usually worked out that he had Grace when Lavender had to work nights so it gave him something to do.

"Well make sure you tell her I said hi and if she asks, Puffington was all your idea," Hermione sends him a teasing wink. She doesn't want to get blamed for the new Pygmy Puff even though she was allowing Puffington to become part of their lives.

"Not a chance," Ron laughs with a shake of his head. "I'll be blaming you. I know who butters my bread if you know what I mean," Ron winks.

"Of course I do Ronald," Hermione rolls her eyes and gives Ron a playful shove. Mrs. Weasley calls everyone for dinner and they make their way into the dining area. Hermione is glad that she is able to go back to being friends with Ron, teasing and joking the night away like old times. He'd moved on from their failed marriage and now she needed to. Maybe the weekend out with Ginny will help solve that problem.

 **Thanks for reading! As always, I'd love to know what you think and what you'd like to see happen!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Here is the next chapter! Sorry for missing yesterday! Thanks for any reviews/favorites/follows!**

 **Enjoy!**

"Hey bud, how was your day?" Draco asks as he walks into Malfoy Manor after a long day at work and find his son waiting in the entry way.

"Grandmum took me to the city," Liam beams as he bounces up to Draco for a hug. Draco hugs his five year old son and picks him up, ruffling his bright blonde hair. He looks so much like Draco had when he was this age, or so his Mum tells him.

"Did she now?" Draco asks with interest as he carries Liam into the sitting room where his Mum is already sitting.

"Hey Mum," Draco smiles as his eyes land on the one person who has always been there for him. He sets Liam down and goes over to kiss his Mum on the cheek. "Where's Astoria?" Draco asks, noticing the lack of his wife. He's not complaining that she's gone, he actually prefers it.

"She went out," Narcissa answers, raising her eyebrows in a look that gives Draco the feeling that Astoria's been gone all day.

Draco just nods and turns back to Liam, she'd deal with Astoria's disappearance later. "I saw one of your friends today, buddy."

"You did?" Liam asks, his blue eyes going wide in excitement as he bounces back over to Draco.

"I did," Draco nods as he crouches down to be eye level with Liam.

"Who?" Liam asks happily.

"Grace Weasley," Draco answers, the look on Liam's face brings a smile to Draco's lips. He loves seeing his son happy, that's really all that matters to him in the world.

"I like playing with Grace," Liam's face breaks into a smile at the mention of Hermione and Ron's daughter. Draco could think of much worse friends for his young son to have.

"She wanted me to tell you she misses you and that you never finished your game of Quidditch," Draco plays messenger and informs his son.

Liam gasps and shakes his small little head. "No, we didn't. We need to do that. When can I see her again?" Liam starts bouncing up and down again, a ball of energy.

"Grandmum is out of town next week," Draco looks up at Narcissa to confirm and she nods. "So you should be able to see her them," he smiles. He knows Astoria will have to interest in watching their son when Narcissa is away. Astoria is not the nurturing motherly type, she sees Liam and a burden and that's one more thing about her that rubs Draco the wrong way.

"Yay!" Liam claps his hands. "Can she come over some time and play?" he cocks his head to the side, blue eyes hopeful as he looks at Draco.

"Of course she can," Draco nods and ruffles Liam's hair again.

"Yay!" Liam cheers again and bounces off, his short attention span getting the better of him as he bounds towards his toy broom.

Draco laughs to himself as he stands up to his full height and watches his son entertain himself on the other side of the room.

"How was he today?" Draco turns to his Mum and asks.

"He was great as always," Narcissa smiles warmly at her son. "We ventured into Muggle London and stopped at a few stores. He seemed to like it," she continues.

Draco nods, he's glad that they are introducing Liam to the Muggle world now so he doesn't turn into the entitled little prick Draco had been at his start at Hogwarts. Since the end of the Wizarding War, Draco had come to his senses and gotten over his Muggle/Halfblood phobia and become a well rounded citizen. He wanted his son to start that way and they seemed to be off to a good start.

"How long has Astoria been gone?" he asks with a sigh, not really feeling like dealing with his wife's antics right now. He'd had a great day fantasizing about Hermione Granger and what could have been if things had been different. Thinking about Astoria was ruining the mood seeing Hermione had put him in.

"Since early this morning," Narcissa answers.

"I see," is all Draco can say as he rubs at his chin. Lately, all he can think about is getting out of this awful marriage he has been stuck in for the last ten years. When he'd married Astoria out of necessity at the end of the Wizarding War he hadn't thought of how terrible it would be years from then, but now he was living it and he wanted out.

"What are you going to do Draco?" Narcissa asks, able to read that Draco is deep in thought about something.

"Nothing. I can't do anything about it," Draco shakes his head in frustration. If only he could just divorce Astoria like Hermione had Weasley, he'd be so much happier than, but it wasn't as simple as that. He was tied to Astoria by more than marriage.

"You can Draco. We are in a much better position than we were when you married her. There's got to be a loophole in the contract you signed and if anyone can find it, it's you," Narcissa pats Draco on the back as they both watch Liam zipping around the room on his toy broom.

"We'll see," Draco runs his hand through his hair with a sigh. Maybe his Mum is right. Maybe he's spent too many years accepting his fate of being stuck with Astoria for the rest of his life when he could be fighting it and finding a way out instead. Would it be worth the fighting it would bring up? That he didn't yet know, but it was an option he hadn't thought of before.

 **Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Here's the next chapter! Thanks for reviewing/favoriting/following! Enjoy!**

"I can't believe you talked me into wearing this," Hermione shakes her head as Ginny leads her towards the club they're hitting up tonight.

"Oh stop you're complaining, you look hot as hell," Ginny rolls her eyes and looks Hermione up and down pointedly. Hermione knows damn well that she looks hot in the silky, emerald green dress that Ginny had lend her. The fabric hugged her curves in all the right places and just covered her arse allowing her legs to look miles long with her silver pumps. Hermione knew she looked good, she was still surprised she'd let Ginny talk her into wearing this. Green was usually Ginny's color, Hermione preferred red.

"Let's go get you laid," Ginny sends Hermione a saucy wink as she grabs her hand and pulls her into the thumping club, the bouncer not even hesitating to let them through the door.

Hermione rolls her eyes and allows Ginny to lead her though the crowded room, the bass thumping through her body, making her want to dance. It had been so long since Hermione had let herself have a fun night out like this with Ginny with no expectations. Hermione lets herself get lost in the music as Ginny stops at the bar, ordering them two shots of Firewhiskey, which they throw back before taking a second. "See anyone of interest?" Ginny asks as she leans back against the bar and scans the crowd.

Hermione lets her eyes scan the crowd, landing on a few guys who she could have some interest in, but no one who draws her in. Until her eyes turn towards the two guys just coming in the door and she gasps in surprise. Walking towards the bar in all their sexy glory are none other than Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. Hermione's heart starts to race in her chest at the sight, allowing the fantasies from the other day to replay in her head. She'd had an awful lot of fun the past nights with those thoughts of Draco in various stages of undress. "Malfoy and Zabini are here," Hermione breathes out as Draco's grey eyes flick up across the room to meet hers, a smile breaks out onto his handsome face.

Ginny turns her gaze in the direction of the two guys and purrs in appreciation. "I can Blaise, you can have Draco," she licks her lips and tosses her fiery hair behind her shoulder. Hermione can tell she's on a mission to take Blaise home and it's a pretty good chance that she will succeed if the way Blaise's dark eyes are scanning Ginny as they approach is any indication.

"Two times in one week, Hermione, I must be one lucky guy," Draco smiles as he comes to a stop in front of her, close enough for Hermione to smell the enticing musky scent of his cologne. The scent has her insides warming even more than the alcohol does.

"Tell us something we don't know," Hermione teases, allowing her eyes to scan over Draco. He's wearing dark wash jeans that hug him in all the right places paired with a dark grey button down that brings out his grey eyes. His blonde hair is disheveled in a sexy way and his grey eyes are sparkling with mischief. Draco Malfoy is as hot as he's ever been and Hermione has the urge to throw herself at him tonight. After all she did come here to get laid, who better than Draco Malfoy to make that happen. The only problem was the silver ring on his left hand. He had a family and Hermione wasn't going to be the one to ruin it, no matter how much she craved Draco in this moment. She'd flirt with him and dance with him, but she'd make sure it went no farther.

"Let us buy you ladies a drink," Blaise pipes up, his smooth voice sending shiver up Hermione's spine. If Ginny hadn't already called dibs on Mr. Zabini Hermione might take a shot at it. He was hot as hell as well.

Blaise turns to order their drinks and Draco leans into Hermione to whisper in her ear. "It should be a crime to look that hot, Granger," Draco's husky voice in Hermione's ear and warm breath fanning across her exposed next has a surge of heat rushing to her core.

"The same could be said about you," Hermione runs her eyes pointedly over Draco.

"We could have a lot of fun tonight," Draco muses as he runs a hand through his already mussed hair and lets his eyes slowly travel over Hermione again. The heat inside her grows farther under her gaze, building her up in anticipation of what could come.

"Where's your wife?" Hermione snaps herself out of her Draco induced haze and comes back to her senses. There is a reason Draco can only be in her fantasies and Hermione would do well to remember that.

"Don't know, don't care," Draco mumbles as he pulls back, the words seeming to have the effect of a cold shower. The mention of Astoria is enough to bring Draco back to reality.

Hermione studies Draco for a second as he takes his drink from Blaise and downs it in one go. It's clear that things with Astoria and him are not ideal. Hermione had always wondered why the two of them were together. It's not like she knew Draco well enough to judge his relationship, but Astoria just didn't seem like his type, especially now a days. Draco seemed like he'd want someone who would meet him move for move and not back down, but still have a soft and caring side. In Hermione's opinion, Astoria was cold and closed off and only thought about herself, but who was she to judge.

Hermione shakes the thoughts out of her head and turns to take her proffered drink from Blaise, sipping it slowly as she watched Ginny and Blaise flirt and Draco order himself another drink. She hadn't expected to run into Draco tonight, but was glad she did. He would offer the perfect opportunity to flirt and dance and get her mind off of her lack of a love life, while not having to worry about strings or drama that followed going home with a random guy. Hermione knew she wouldn't be going home with Draco, she couldn't let herself do that considering he was attached. If things were different she might consider it, but they weren't so for now she'd just have fun and live in the moment.

Draco downs the rest of his second drink and can feel the alcohol buzzing through his system as he turns to Hermione, captivated by her beauty yet again. As soon as he'd walked into the club his eyes had landed on the sexy beauty in the emerald green dress at the bar, he hadn't realized it was Hermione until their eyes met. Ever since Blaise and he had joined the girls, he'd had to fight the urge to drag Hermione out onto the dance floor and see where things went. All he wanted was to feel her pressed up against him, moving with him. He'd much rather prefer to be alone in a room with naked flesh pressed together as he had his wicked way with her, but he'd settle for dancing with her body pressed against his.

Draco knew there were many lines that he wanted to cross that he couldn't, but he was fully prepared to toe the line until he couldn't any longer. His Mum had mentioned finding a loophole that could get him out of his marriage with Astoria and that thought had been in the back of his mind ever since. He hadn't decided one way of another if he wanted to look into it, that was until his eyes landed on Hermione tonight. If getting out of his sham of a marriage with Astoria meant that he could follow his instincts and do whatever he wanted with Hermione tonight, then he would be all for it. Tomorrow morning he'd get to work, but right now he was going to lose himself in the alcohol and Hermione and forget everything else.

"Let's dance," Draco whispers in Hermione's ear, his hand grazing down her arm to grab her small hand in his.

Hermione opens her mouth as if she's going to protest, but with a shake of her head she seems to change her mind. "Okay," she nods with a smile and lets Draco lead her out into the crowd of people to the dance floor. Blaise and Ginny had already made their way out there and Draco spotted them in the crowd, dirty dancing and making out. It looked like Blaise was getting lucky tonight. Draco wished the same could be said for him, but he'd be going home alone to an empty bed because his wife was probably out fucking some other guy. She might be able to do that to him, but Draco couldn't bring himself to return he favor. He had morals, or so he told himself.

Out on the dance floor, Draco turns Hermione so her back in to him and pulls her close, her back pressing against his chest. His hands are on her hips as she starts to sway them to the beat, her arse rubbing against him in just the right spots. As the bass pumps up, their movements pick up pace and the sexual tension between the two of them is buzzing, flowing through their veins. Draco pulls Hermione closer still, loving the feeling of Hermione moving against him. Each movement has dirtier and dirtier thoughts running through Draco's head as his body reacts to the thoughts and the friction. Pushing Hermione's silky brown hair to the side, Draco leans down and presses his lips against the creamy column of her neck that's now exposed. His lips trail kisses along the skin, sucking and nibbling enough that he knows he'll leave a mark.

Hermione's breathy moans at the touch of his lips to her skin send him into overdrive. He knows he shouldn't be doing any of this, but the alcohol and the smell of vanilla radiating off of Hermione and the lack of blood in his brain make it impossible to stop. All he wants to do is pin Hermione to a wall and kiss her senseless, her legs wrapped around his waist and her hands tangled in his hair. He wants her, alone, now.

Draco trails his lips up to Hermione's ear and whispers, "Let's get out of here." His breath and lips brush over the shell of her ear and he can feel Hermione melting into him even farther. She turns in his arms to face him, her chocolate brown eyes dark with desire. She just nods before throwing her arms around him and pulling his lips to hers in a kiss. Draco melts into her, relishing the feel of her soft, yielding lips against his. Draco allows himself to get lost in Hermione's kiss, meeting her move for move, tasting her sweetness, and feeling her desire running as strongly as his.

"Let's go," Hermione murmurs when she finally pulls away, her lips pink from his rough kiss. Draco follows Hermione obediently as she leads him out of the club. In this state, he'd follow to the ends of the earth. Draco is intoxicated by everything Hermione does, he may have a wife at home, but he has all he wants right in front of him. Nobody compares to the sexy angel he is following home.

 **Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think and what you want to see happen!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Thanks for any reviews/favorites/follows! Enjoy!**

Before she even opens her eyes Hermione can feel her head pounding and knows she needs a hangover potion pronto. She kept a stock in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom for mornings like this after Ginny has drug her out to party. In a daze, Hermione pulls herself out of her comfy bed and feels her way to the bathroom, refusing to turn on the lights and only opening her eyes enough to see where she's going. She reaches the bathroom and grabs the potion, taking a gulp and immediately feeling better. Flipping on the lights, no longer afraid of the raging headache, she looks in the mirror at the disaster that has become her face. Her eye makeup has smeared down her eyes and she looks like a raccoon. Speaking of raccoons, it looks like one of them has made a home in her brown unruly hair. With a flick of her wand she fixes herself up and brushes her teeth before thinking about the events of last night.

The last thing she remembers is leaving with Draco, but what happened after that? Did Draco drop her off and leave? With a sudden feeling of dread Hermione slowly peeks her head out into her bed room and sure enough, her fear is confirmed. Laying in her bed, arms sprawled out and blonde hair mussed about is none other than Draco Malfoy. "Fuck," Hermione mutters, trying to figure out what in the hell happened after they left the club. How had Draco Malfoy ended up in her bed? It's not that she didn't love the fact that Draco was in her bed, she actually wished it was under different circumstances. The problem was, unless something drastic had changed last night, Draco was still married to Astoria and Hermione had no right to spend the night with him. No matter how many times she'd dreamed about it in the last few months.

Hermione shuts off the bathroom light and pulls on her silk robe, covering up her scantily clad body. All she'd woken up in was her black lacy thong. That and a sheer black tank top, she wasn't sure how that boded for the event of the previous night. "Draco, wake up," Hermione mutters as she sits down on the bed and gentle rocks Draco's body. She needs him up now so she can figure out what went down last night. The last thing Hermione Granger wants to be is a home wrecker.

"Draco, wake up," Hermione shakes him again, her voice frustrated now. Draco groans and shrugs off her hand as he slowly rolls over onto his back.

"What? Why are you waking me up? My head hurts," are his grumbled words as he slowly rubs his eyes like a little kid. If Hermione wasn't inwardly freaking out about the situation she found herself in, she'd think the movement was cute.

"Drink this," Hermione hands Draco the hangover potion she'd grabbed on the way out of the bathroom and he takes a dose. Hermione sets the bottle on the night stand as Draco starts to come to, stretching his arms out above him and letting out a yawn.

"What's going on Hermione? Why'd you wake me up?" Draco asks sleepily as he turns to face her, his grey eyes skimming over her skimpy robe. "What are we doing in bed together?" he asks after a second, sitting upright as the situation sinks in.

"Exactly," Hermione sends him a pointed look, crossing her arms over her chest and only managing to push her loose breasts together and up, making them stand out even more. Draco's eyes go right to them. Hermione uncrosses her arms immediately and straightens up, loving the way Draco is looking at her, but knowing it's wrong in this current situation.

"What happened last night Draco?" Hermione asks as she pulls her legs up onto the bed and wraps her arms around them protectively.

Draco runs a hand over his face and lets out a sigh, remembering last night. "What part do you remember to?" he turns his grey eyes to meet her brown eyes and waits for her response.

Hermione can't read the look in his eyes and that bothers her, but she answers his questions and doesn't dwell on that thought. "I remember leaving the club, but then it's all blank," she says as she tries to make her memory come back with no luck.

"We came back here, made out a little and then you went to bed," Draco shrugs as he lays out the main points of last night.

"Did we…?" Hermione asks trailing off in fear that she'll get and answer she doesn't want. She would love to sleep with Draco under different circumstances.

"No, Hermione, we didn't. Who do you think I am?" Draco sighs and holds up his left hand, showing his silver wedding band.

"Okay, good," Hermione says with a sigh of relief.

"That doesn't mean I didn't want to, but we didn't," Draco sends her a flirty wink and Hermione responds by grabbing her pillow and hitting him with it. "Hey!" Draco holds up his hands in surrender.

"You deserved it," Hermione puts the pillow down and sends Draco a look, stopping any farther complaints.

Draco nods is agreement as he situates himself to lean against the headboard, the sheet falling down to reveal nothing but skin. Hermione can't help her eyes from traveling to the toned chest that is now on display, a chest she wants to run her hands over and trail kisses starting at the base of his neck and heading downward. With a blush, Hermione shakes the thoughts from her head and looks back to Draco's grey eyes. "Why did you spend the night?" Hermione asks the one question that may make this all make sense. They didn't sleep together, just kissed, not that that didn't cause guilt in the pit of Hermione's stomach, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been.

"Honestly, I didn't want to go home," Draco sighs and runs his hand through his sleep disheveled hair. "And you asked me to stay."

"I did?" Hermione asks in slight embarrassment. It sounds like something she would have done, she'd been lonely the last few months when Grace was out of the house and wasn't really surprised she'd wanted company, even if it was Draco's.

"You did," he nods. One look into Draco's eyes tells Hermione he didn't want to go home and spend another loveless night with Astoria. He was lonely too, just in a different way.

"I think you need to go home to your wife," Hermione says after a few minutes of silence. She needs Draco to get out of there now before her self control leaves her and she falls into his arms. She may not remember he kisses he mentioned from last night, but she can still feel a hint of tingle on her lips. The kiss must have been damn good.

"I don't want to," Draco admits as he rakes a hand through his hair and leans his head against the wall and stares at the ceiling. Hermione can see it's taking everything he has to hold himself together right now. His marriage to Astoria seems to be taking a toll on him and he's about to bust.

"Then go home to your son," Hermione says, knowing Draco will respond to this. The way he'd acted around Grace told Hermione he loved his own son unconditionally.

"Okay," Draco gives in after a second and starts to move out of the bed. Hermione watches, her eyes glued to his body, as Draco stands up wearing nothing but tight black boxers that leave very little to the imagination. With one look at what he's packing, Hermione knows that they Slytherin Sex God rumors are not rumors at all. She bites her lip to keep from moaning at the thought of what Draco could do with his massive snake if he were to unleash it on her. She takes deep calming breathes, getting herself under control, as Draco pulls on his clothes from last night.

When he's fully dressed, Draco turns back to Hermione. "We should do this again sometime," he says. "I mean spend time together, not sleep together," he amends when Hermione raises her brow at him.

"That would be nice," Hermione nods. If she can't have Draco as a lover, she could definitely use him as a friend. Maybe that was a possibility. They wouldn't know unless they tried.

Draco nods as he walks over to stand in front of Hermione. Her eyes follow him until he comes to a stop in front of her. Her leans down and places a soft kiss on her lips, there is nothing friendly about it, before saying, "Thanks for last night. I'll see you around Hermione." With those parting words, Draco smiles sadly and turns to leave, walking out of the door.

Hermione stares after Draco, her fingers pressed to her tingling lips as she watches Draco go. This is the first time in forever that Hermione hasn't felt like something is missing in her life. The final puzzle piece seems to finally be in place, the problem is that final piece is shaped like Draco Malfoy and Draco Malfoy was, by all means, off limits.

Hermione needed to get her thoughts under control and accept that Draco Malfoy would never actually be hers, not in the way she wanted. He wasn't going to leave Astoria after all of these years for her. There was something going on between Draco and Astoria that didn't meet the eye, but it had been going on for years and Hermione would be stupid to get her hopes up that she might be the one to get them to end that relationship. It just wasn't going to happen. Hermione would need to settle for being possible friends with Draco, that was the best she would ever get and she needed to be okay with that.

 **Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Thanks for reading and thanks for any reviews/follows/favorites! Enjoy!**

Walking into Malfoy Manor after his night with Hermione put Draco into a doom and gloom mood. He'd been so happy waking up next to Hermione this morning, even though she'd abruptly woken him up. The first thought that had popped into his head this morning when he saw Hermione in her black silky robe was that he could get used to this. He could get used to waking up next to her every morning. He'd been yanked back to his senses when she'd told him to home to his wife.

Here Draco was, doing exactly what Hermione had said, but it was the last place he wanted to be. One step into the Manor and Draco knows Astoria is home by the cold vibes floating around the house. While Hermione has the ability to walk into a room and brighten it up, Astoria can walk into a room and dark cloud follows her, the mood plummeting with her appearance.

If this morning told him one thing, it was that he needed to take his Mum's advice and find a loophole in the contract he'd signed with Astoria ten years ago. There were no Malfoy family secrets that were big enough to keep on suffering the way he currently was. He had more than enough to pay off any debts he owed to her and he was ready to do just that. His only worry was Liam and how he would react to his parents splitting up.

Draco hears laughing in the back yard and starts to make his way towards the door to see what's going on, but he's stopped by Astoria's cold voice, "Where have you been?" Turning at the sound of his wife's voice, Draco finds Astoria standing at the top of the grand stair case with her hands on her slim hips and a haughty look on her angular face. Her icy blue eyes are slits as she slowly descends the stairs to stand in front of Draco. She only comes up to his chin, even in her five inch heels, but she is still intimidating.

"Out," Draco answers simple, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking down at Astoria. Her heavy perfume making his want to gag, but he holds back. Over the years, everything about Astoria has started to get on his nerves and push him away. Even though there had never been any real love in their marriage, in the early years Draco had been content in their relationship. He'd known it was necessary, but they'd been able to make the best of it. That was before Astoria turned into the ice cold bitch she was and started using every little thing she had on Draco to her advantage. Liam had been an accident, he'd been the result of a night out at a society function where alcohol was flowing. When they'd found out about Astoria being pregnant with Liam, Draco thought this might be a new turning point for them and it had been for the first few years. Then Astoria went back to her usual icy ways and started disappearing frequently. Draco had his suspicions of what she was up to, but he didn't ask because he didn't really care. The more she was gone, the happier he was.

"Fucking some other blonde?" she sends him a pointed look, her hands still on her hips.

"With Blaise," Draco answers curtly, inwardly wishing Astoria would just leave him alone like he left her alone. Saying he was with Blaise was a slight lie but not a huge one. He hadn't been out 'fucking some blonde' as Astoria had so eloquently put it. There was no need for her to know he'd been with Hermione, nothing too incriminating had gone down between them and Draco knew Astoria well enough to know that she'd make Hermione's life a living hell.

Astoria's icy eyes travel over Draco, taking in his rumpled appearance, but not commenting on it. "Right," she spits, clearly not buying his story.

"I don't care if you believe me or not Astoria. If you really want to get into it, I can start asking where the hell you've been disappearing to daily," Draco shoots back at her, his tone making it clear she shouldn't mess with him. Draco usually lets Astoria have her way because it's just easier that way, but he's starting to reach his limit on his bullshit meter.

"That's none of your business," Astoria's voice is full of attitude as she sticks her pointy chin in the air. "Don't mess with me Draco. I will win," with those parting words, Astoria whips around and walks back up the steps, her blonde hair whipping out behind her and a cloud of perfume staying in her wake.

"We'll see about that, babe," Draco mutters, loud enough that he knows Astoria hears him as she storms off, but she doesn't acknowledge his statement. He knows she thinks his words are an empty threat like usual, but this time they're not. As soon as he gets the chance he will start looking for a way out.

Draco runs a hand through his hair with a sigh, he really wishes he hadn't left Hermione's bed this morning. He knows he can't have exactly what he wants, but just her company would be enough right now. She seems to have a calming effect on him and that's exactly what he needs right now. He shakes the thoughts from his head and finally makes his way towards the back yard, following the laughing voice's of him Mum and son.

"Hi Daddy! Come play with me," Liam smiles from his spot in his play broom, hovering a few feet off the ground.

"Hey Li, I'll be there in a second," Draco smiles at his son, his mood lifting already. Whenever Draco is with Liam and sees his smiling face, there is no way he can stay mad at anyone, even Astoria.

"What were you up to last night?" Narcissa sends Draco a knowing look. His Mum has always been able to read him like a book and that hadn't changed as the years had passed.

"Something I shouldn't have been," Draco sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

"Whoever she was, did she convince you to start stand up for yourself when it comes to that wife of yours?" his Mum asks pointedly, making it clear that she thinks he's being naive to stick with Astoria.

"She did," Draco nods with a small smile thinking of what it might be like to have something with Hermione where they could actually do whatever they wanted with not invisible lines they couldn't cross.

"Smart woman," Narcissa smiles at her son.

"Daddy! Come play with me!" Liam repeats as he zooms over to them.

"Duty calls," Draco smiles at his Mum and summons his broom, ready to spend the rest of this morning having a carefree time with his son. He'd worry about everything else in a bit, right now Liam was his sole interest.

 **Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Thanks for any reviews/favorites/follows! Here is the next chapter, enjoy!**

"How did the rest of your weekend go Miss Party Animal?" Hermione asks Ginny on Monday morning when Ginny strolls into their shared office right on time. Hermione hadn't seen Ginny since she'd left the club with Blaise on Saturday night. Usually Ginny would have been knocking down Hermione's door first thing the next morning to see how her night with Draco went, unless she was busy. Hermione had a feeling she'd been busy with Blaise.

"Most excellent," Ginny smiles as she flops into her desk chair and spins it around. "Blaise finally left this morning," the red heads smirk tells Hermione all she needs to know. Blaise had been able to keep up with Ginny move for move, something that was very rare indeed.

"When are you seeing him again?" Hermione asks as she smiles to herself. She can see that Ginny had a great time with Blaise and she's curious as to whether there may be something more than a one night stand between them.

"I'm not," Ginny rolls her eyes and stops spinning in her chair, facing Hermione now. "We had a hot steamy weekend full of a lot of satisfaction, but that's all there was," Ginny throws her red hair over her shoulder with a shrug. Hermione can tell she's playing nonchalant.

"You're telling me you had a hot weekend with Blaise and you're just going to leave it at that?" Hermione asks skeptically. Ginny's sole goal in her love life is to find a guy who can keep her satisfied in bed and from what Hermione can tell by the look on Ginny's face, Blaise is the first guy who's come close. It doesn't make sense that Ginny would Blaise go that easily, but there must be more to it.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you," Ginny nods. "I'm not looking for a relationship, Mione. Blaise and I had a hot weekend, but that's all it's ever going to be." Ginny shrugs off Hermione's questions as if they're no big deal.

"Okay," Hermione nods, studying her friend to see if she's telling her everything. She seems to be. Hmmm, Hermione thinks, Ginny and Blaise would be great together, maybe I'll work on changing Ginny's mind instead of focusing all my free energy on waking up next to Draco.

"Yeah, enough about me. Tell me what went down between Draco and you," Ginny waves off their previous topic and leans forward to the edge of her chair, waiting excitedly to hear all of the supposed juicy details.

"Not much happened," Hermione shrugs, not wanting the conversation to be focused on her. The blush creeping up her cheeks at the thought of the other day comes back to her.

"Oh, stop lying to me Hermione. We both know that's not true," Ginny rolls her eyes and bounces her legs up and down as she waits for the details.

"We danced and talked," Hermione says slowly, those details were harmless.

"And snogged?" Ginny asks with a tilt of her head, her dirty mind taking the exact path of how the night went.

Hermione rubs the back of her neck, trying to find a way out of this conversation, but she knows it's useless. Ginny can read her like an open book and there's no point in drawing this out any longer so she just gives in and tells Ginny exactly what she wants to hear. "And snogged," Hermione nods, her face bright red. She goes on to give Ginny all of the details she remembers about her encounter with Draco.

"Damn Hermione! You slept with Draco Malfoy and you let me go on about my hot night with Blaise first? What the hell!?" Ginny exclaims, her face alight with the excitement of the news.

"We didn't hook up Ginny," Hermione sets her friends imagination straight. "He's married."

"Unhappily married," Ginny waves off Hermione's concern. "Where's the harm in having a little fun with Draco Malfoy? There's no reason to be embarrassed by it," Ginny wags her eyebrows suggestively. She clearly doesn't see the harm in getting involved with a married man, but that didn't exactly surprise Hermione too much. Her friend was all about hot sex whenever and however you could get it. Their views different slightly in that aspect, Hermione couldn't justify getting in the middle of a marriage just because Draco was probably a damn good lay who could take care of this permanent ache she felt for him. He was married and it was wrong. Nothing else could happen between them.

"I'm not hooking up with a married man, Ginny," Hermione crosses her arms and sends her feisty friend a pointed look.

"Fine," Ginny rolls her eyes in mock frustration. "Be like that." She isn't really mad that Hermione doesn't want to get in the middle of Draco's marriage, she just thinks that Hermione should take advantage of a very sexy male specimen who is clearly interested in her.

"I will be," Hermione rolls her eyes back. "So tell me again why you don't want to see Blaise again?" Hermione turns the conversation back on Ginny, knowing it will get her to shut up. It works.

"We've been over this. I'm not looking for a relationship and I don't do strings. Easiest way to avoid that is to avoid seeing the same guy. It's as simple as that," Ginny shrugs as if this view on relationships is the most normal thing in the world.

Hermione just shakes her head and laughs at her friends clear denial. "I think you're in denial, Gin. Before the end of the month I predict you're shacking up with Blaise Zabini on a regular basis." If Hermione has anything to say about it this will definitely be the case.

"If that's true, you'll be shacking up with Draco Malfoy as well," Ginny sends Hermione a playful wink and turns her chair to face her desk, finally getting to work. Hermione thinks about her friends comment for a second before shrugging it off. As much as she loved the thought, that would definitely not be happening.

 **Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **I am so sorry I haven't posted in the last two days, I have chapters sitting there waiting, but life was kind of busy! Here you are! Enjoy!**

On his way in on Monday morning Draco dropped Liam off at the daycare, his Mum was out of town for a few days and like promised, Liam could go see his friends. Astoria couldn't handle taking care of Liam on her own, or in other words, didn't want to. As Liam ran off into the daycare room with Miss Hazel, Draco snuck a peak to see if Grace was there already, she was. Draco wasn't sure which parent had dropped Grace off this morning, but he'd hoped he might run into Hermione, not today.

Draco makes his way up to the ninth floor and walks into his office to find Blaise sitting in the chair reserved for visitors. "What's that creepy smile about?" Draco asks as he closes the door behind him and moves to take a seat in his desk chair. Blaise was reclining in the chair he was in, his hands behind his head and right ankle resting on his left knee with a devilish smirk on his face.

"Just had a great weekend," Blaise continues to smirk as he shifts forward in his chair.

"Oh yeah?" Draco asks, only half caring what his friend had gotten up to this weekend after Draco'd last saw him. He knew Blaise had gone home with Ginny Weasley and they too had been hanging all over each other most of the night. It wasn't hard to imagine what followed after they left the club.

"Mmm yes," Blaise hums, licking his lips in thought. "I finally made it back home this morning," the smug note in his voice makes it clear he's pretty satisfied with himself.

"She kept you around that long before kicking you out?" Draco teases his friend. He'd heard that Ginny Weasley liked to play the field and wasn't easily satisfied. She didn't try to hide her feelings on the matter.

"I had her moaning my name all weekend long," Blaise winks, a confident and self satisfied smirk on his lips.

"You're a prick," Draco shakes his head at his friend, trying not to laugh. Of course Blaise had been the one to hook Ginny for the weekend and get her to stick around. His friends was the guy version of Miss Ginny Weasley when it came to thoughts on dating and sex. The two of them would be good together, Draco can't help but think to himself.

"It's not my fault I got laid this weekend and you didn't," Blaise shrugs with a pointed look at Draco.

"Did you expect anything else to happen?" Draco shakes his head, it had been way too long since Draco had gotten any relief from his sexual tension from anything but his hand.

"How long has it been since you've gotten some man?" Blaise asks, leaning forward in his seat with his elbows propped on his knees.

"Way too long," Draco sighs. It had been months since Draco and Astoria had done anything sexual and that had only been a quick fuck that left Draco feeling dirty and used. Astoria was fulfilling her needs elsewhere, that much was clear. Draco on the other hand, wished he had the absence of a conscience so he could do the same, but sadly he didn't. He would have loved to take advantage of his night in bed with Hermione and done more than sleep, but that was all just in his mind.

"You need to do something about that," Blaise shakes his head in awe.

"I plan to," Draco leans back in his chair, lacing his hands behind his neck. The quicker he found a loophole in this marriage contract, the quicker he'd be able to have a weekend like Blaise had just had.

"How can I help?" Blaise smiles, more than ready to help his friend get out of this marriage from hell. He'd seen everything from the word go and knew that Draco needed to get out and he needed to do it soon.

Leaning over to his briefcase he'd just set next to his desk when coming in, Draco pulls out the think leather bound contract that he had signed when he'd agreed to marry Astoria. It held all of the details of their arrangement and any possible loopholes Draco was hoping to find. Draco had originally married Astoria out of necessity, but that necessity had disappeared years ago. He wasn't sure why he'd waited this long to try and do anything about it. Astoria didn't know anything terrible enough to ruin Draco's newly formed reputation. She could only drag his name through the mud until she got her way, but what she didn't know was Draco had more dirt on her than she did on him. He'd married her to save the Malfoy Estate and the Malfoy name, but he'd long ago recovered both. She was just useless baggage at this point and Draco was finally ready to do something about it.

"Help me find a way out," Draco answers Blaise's question as he slides the document across the desk towards Blaise.

"That I can do with pleasure," his friend's face is taken over by a devilish smile. Blaise has Draco's back through and through and he will definitely help him figure out an escape plan. "But first, explain to me what finally brought you to your senses," Blaise sends Draco a knowing look. He'd been trying to convince Draco for years now that he needed out to no avail. Something had happened this weekend to push Draco over the edge and Blaise sure as hell wanted to know what it was.

Draco runs a hand through his blonde hair and sighs, he was hoping Blaise wouldn't bring anything that had to do with Hermione up, but he had and Draco couldn't lie to him. "Hermione," Draco answers simply, Blaise's dark eyes lighting up at the name.

"What went down between you two after Ginn and I left?" Blaise's interest is fully on Draco again, the contract in his hands forgotten for the moment.

Draco sighs and tells Blaise the full story, knowing it's best to appease his curiosity before trying to get him to worry about the project at hand. Blaise does his best to urge Draco to get together with Hermione again and this time to get some action, but Draco shakes his head. He refuses to do anymore than kiss Hermione until this whole Astoria deal is sorted out. He had proof that Astoria has been cheating on him in years, he can use that against her in the separation, but not if there is any way she could prove the same of him. Draco's best bet is to use his fantasies of Hermione as motivation to push through and find a way out of this dilemma he finds himself in with Astoria. He doesn't want any casualties, his only fear is how Liam will reach to what Draco has planned.

 **Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Enjoy!**

It was later than usual when Draco finally flipped off his office lights for the day. He and Blaise had gotten wrapped up in looking through his marriage contract for loopholes, so far they hadn't found anything huge that was a surefire way out, but they'd found things that might help. Draco was starting to think that his best way out was to blackmail Astoria into it, but he didn't really want to do that. He was hoping the two of them could have a civil conversation and agree upon a way to separate without too much drama.

Draco shakes the thoughts out of the head for the time being, right now he needs to pick up Liam from daycare and get him home. He wasn't sure if Astoria would be there or not, but he was kind of hoping she wasn't.

When Draco appears in the doorway to the daycare, Liam's head snaps up to see him almost immediately. "Daddy!" he squeals and races towards him, barreling into his legs with a big hug.

"Hey bud, ready to go home?" Draco smiles down at his smiling son.

"Yep," Liam nods, his bright blonde hair flopping with his movements. Draco takes Liam's hand and together they make their way to the lift.

"How was your day?" Draco asks when they are in the lift heading upward.

"It was fun," Liam bounces up and down in excitement. "I got to see Grace and we finished our game," he beams and goes on to tell Draco about every little thing that happened over his day at daycare. He spoke animatedly as they got to the Floo station and continued right back up where he'd left off when they were standing in the living room of Malfoy Manor. Draco can't help but smiling at his excited son. "Oh Daddy!" Liam exclaims as if he just thought of something.

"Yes bud?" Draco turns to his son and watches as he fidgets in spot. It's like he wants to ask something but he's not sure if he should.

"Grace Weasley brought her Pygmy Puff named Puffington to daycare today," Liam says and Draco nods, showing he's listening. "He was purple and fluffy," Liam says, putting his hands behind his back and swaying back and forth, the look he gets when he wants something.

"I've heard of Pygmy Puff's before, they're cute," Draco smiles down at his son. From what Draco remembered, Pygmy Puff's were one of the Weasley Twin's creations.

"Can I have one Daddy?" Liam finally gets to his point, his little face innocent and his blue eyes wide in hope. Liam was pulling the puppy dog face on Draco and it was definitely working.

"A Pygmy Puff?" Draco asks, sinking down so he's eye level with Liam.

"Yes!" Liam bounces up and down and Draco reaches out a hand, placing it on his shoulder and calming him down for a second.

"I don't see why not," Draco smiles and Liam tries to bounce some more in excitement, but Draco is still holding him still. "We'll have to check with your Mum though," he says reluctantly, knowing he can't just go buy Liam a Pygmy Puff without at least mentioning it to Astoria first.

Liam's face falls instantly at Draco's words. "Mummy probably won't let me have one," Liam pouts, crossing his arms over his chest and looking forlorn.

"I'll talk her into it," Draco smiles and ruffles Liam's hair. He hates seeing the sad look on Liam's face and knowing that Astoria caused it, even unknowingly, hurts. It gives him one more reason to seek divorce. Liam tries to avoid his Mum as much as he can because he knows she doesn't seem to like him being underfoot.

"Thank you Daddy" Liam squeals and throws his arms around Draco in a hug. Draco scoops Liam up and takes him towards the kitchen in search of something to feed him.

"You're welcome buddy," Draco smiles as Liam wraps his arms around his neck and rests his head on his shoulder. It's times like these that Draco is thankful to Astoria for giving him Liam. It's times like these that makes him want to try and work things out, but one thought of the look on Liam's face when he thought Astoria would deny him having Pygmy Puff was enough to push those crazy thoughts away. Liam was the most important thing in the world to Draco and he was willing to do anything to make him happy. Now, he just needed to decide if Liam was happier with Astoria in his life or out of it. He already knew Astoria's view on the subject.

"Where have you been?" Astoria announces her presence as soon as the two guys set foot into the kitchen.

"At work," Draco answers as he sets Liam down on the ground again. He's surprised to see Astoria home for a change.

"Hi Mummy!" Liam smiles at Astoria and goes over to hug her. Astoria sends him a tight smile at pats his head like he's some strange creature she doesn't really want by her but feels like she should give it a little attention while it's there. The sight infuriates Draco. How can she not love her own son? Draco already knows the answer to that questions, that would mean having to love someone other than herself and that's not something Astoria will ever do.

"I went to the trouble of making you dinner and you couldn't even be home on time?" Astoria brushes Liam off and puts her hands on her hips, full of attitude.

Draco looks at the Italian food sitting on the counter on platters, it smells good, but there's no way Astoria made it. He spots the Italian take out boxes and bags from their favorite restaurant in London and just shakes his head. It's not worth pointing out that Astoria bought it at the restaurant and is trying to pass it off as her own. It's not worth the fight it will cause, especially when Draco has bigger things to fight about.

"Sorry, Blaise and I got wrapped up in a case," Draco shrugs, loosening his tie that suddenly feels like its choking him. Liam has moved back over to Draco's side, hiding slightly behind him as he looks warily up at him Mother.

"Of course you did," Astoria rolls her eyes in disgust, like Draco's lying to her. If anyone is lying, it's Astoria.

"Let's eat this lovely dinner you made for us," Draco sends Astoria a forced smile. He's learned by now that it's easier to try to appease her in situations like this than to go up against her. He'd be going up against her soon enough.

Without a word, Astoria whips around, her hair flying out behind her as she walks into the dining room. Draco moves the food from the kitchen to the dining room table and Liam follows along. In silence they take their seats and dish food onto their plates. Draco breaks the frosty silence when he says, "So Liam was telling me about a Pygmy Puff he saw at daycare today and I think we'll go into town this weekend and get him one." Draco figures this is the best way to broach the topic, laying it out there in a way that he's telling Astoria they plan on doing this, not asking if it's okay.

"A what?" Astoria's icy eyes turn to Draco in disdain. She clearly thinks whatever Draco is talking about is below her.

Before Draco has a chance to answer, Liam cuts in excitedly. "A Pygmy Puff Mummy. Its a fluffy little creature. I want purple," he adds as s side note. "It's about this big," he uses his hands to indicate the size of the Pygmy Puff, his little hands shaking in excitement. "Daddy said I could get one," Liam's smile is huge as he finishes, waiting eagerly for Astoria's response.

"Your Dad said you could get one of _those_?" Astoria says in disgust as she turns on Draco, sending him what he has come to know as the evil eye. The look that usual means she's going to get her way, this time that isn't going to happen.

"I'll take care of it Mummy. You won't have to do anything," Liam assures, seeing his Mother's displeasure and trying to win her over. Astoria just ignores him and keeps glaring at Draco. Draco can see Liam's face and shoulders drop in defeat as he slowly goes back to eating his dinner. He's resigned to the fact that he's not going to allowed to have a Pygmy Puff.

"I did and we are going to go into town this weekend and get it," Draco repeats calmly, sending Astoria a look that says 'don't mess with me.'

Astoria glares for a moment longer before turning back to her food, her nose up in the air. "That _thing_ better stay away from me," she mutters under her breath loud enough for Draco to hear and apparently Liam too. Liam sniffles and Draco looks over to see he has tears in his eyes. "I don't need one," he says in a small voice as he stares down at the table, his little body looking defeated.

"We'll go get you one on Saturday buddy," Draco turns to Liam and pats his back comfortingly. Liam looks over at him and nods slowly, Draco can tell he's still sad about the way Astoria was acting, but he's excited about the prospect of getting a Pygmy Puff of his own.

"Behave yourself," Draco spits at Astoria only loud enough for her to hear, but the shocked look on her harsh face tells Draco he got his point across. He refuses to mess around or take any shit from his bitch of a wife where Liam is concerned. The more time he spends with Astoria, the more he thinks that Liam will be better off far far away from her. That only helps his resolve to find a way out that much more.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Enjoy!**

The next day Hermione was sitting in her office at her desk going through boring paperwork when there was a knock at the door. Looking up from her work she's surprised to see none other than Draco Malfoy leaning in the doorway. His blonde hair is ruffled like he'd run his hand through it one too many times this morning and there is a small apprehensive smile on his face. Hermione just stares at him in surprise, her mind going back to the other morning when she'd woken up next to him.

"What can we do for you Mr. Malfoy?" Ginny asks when Hermione continues to stare at him, speechless. What is he doing here?

"I was hoping to steal Hermione away for lunch," Draco answers as he cocks his head in Hermione's direction.

"Why?" Hermione blurts out before she has a chance to stop herself. As much as she'd love to go to lunch with Draco, she wasn't expecting the invitation. Until last week, they hadn't seen each other in years and had a real conversation, but then again when you wake up next to someone that might have a way of changing previous relationship statuses.

Draco laughs at Hermione's reaction. "We need to talk," he smiles at her, his grey eyes locked with her brown ones.

"I thought we talked everything out before you left on Sunday," Hermione says, suddenly nervous at the prospect of getting lunch alone with Draco. In her mind she'd resolved to stay far away from him so they didn't repeat what had happened the previous weekend. She felt guilty for everything, even though they'd only kissed. Draco was still married and Hermione needed to stay far from that, she didn't need or want to get caught up in the drama between Draco and Astoria. It was none of her business.

"We need to talk about a Pygmy Puff named Puffington," Draco elaborates, surprising Hermione yet again.

"What did Grace do?" she asks with a sigh. Immediately thinking something with Puffington had gotten out of hand. It was a relief Draco was here about that and not about what happened between the two of them.

"Nothing at all. I just have a few questions that I'm sure you can answer. So what do you say? Can I take you to lunch?" he studies her with his grey eyes and a sly smile.

"To talk about Pygmy Puffs?" Hermione asks, searching clarification. If that's their topic of conversation then she doesn't see any reason not to join him.

"Correct," Draco nods, an amused smile now playing on his thin pink lips. Lips Hermione had kissed less than three days ago. She feels the flush try to spread on her cheeks at the thought and does her best to push it away.

"Okay," Hermione nods, semi reluctantly agreeing to lunch.

"Great, can you go now?" Draco asks, looking at the clock on the wall next to Hermione's desk.

Hermione looks at Ginny for a second, gauging her friends reaction to all of this, and find Ginny nodding her eyes saying 'If you don't go with him, I will.'

"Yes," Hermione nods to Draco's questions and stands slowly from her chair. She loves Ginny and all, but she also knows her friend and if she were to let Ginny go to lunch with Draco instead of her she had no doubt Ginny would make a move of some sort. The fact that Draco was married didn't bother Ginny, maybe Hermione should take a page out of her friends book and see what happens. Even thinking about it, Hermione is sickened by the idea. She is strong in her resolve that Draco needs to be single in order for anything to happen between the two of them.

Ginny sends Hermione a wink on the way out the door and Hermione subtly flips her off so Draco doesn't see. "Where would you like to go?" Draco asks as the pair walk towards the fifth floor lifts and wait.

"It doesn't matter," Hermione shakes her head as the lift arrives and they enter. All of the sudden she has nervous butterflies in her stomach now that she's alone with Draco, this is a new development since Sunday morning. She's not exactly afraid to be alone with him, she's more so afraid of what she might do when their alone together. Her resolve is strong, but her pull towards him may be stronger.

"Have you ever been to the cafe in that little bookstore down the street?" Draco asks, looking down at Hermione once they are in the lift. Luckily the lift isn't empty so all of the fantasies of her and Draco alone in here are not pushing at the forefront of her mind.

"Dog Earred?" Hermione asks, her face lighting up. She loved the little cafe.

"That's the one," Draco nods as the lift starts to head down to the lobby.

"I love that place," Hermione smiles, surprised Draco picked her favorite spot that no one seemed to know about.

"Then let's head there," he smiles as the lift opens on the ground level and they both exit.

They make simple small talk about work as they walk the short distance to the small little bookstore. Once they've ordered and wound their way through racks of books, back to a little table hidden in the back, they get to the point of this lunch. "So what's this about Puffington?" Hermione looks on skeptically, hoping Grace didn't do something bad.

"Liam came home from daycare yesterday asking if he could have a Pygmy Puff," Draco says with an amused look, leaning back in his chair.

"Awe, so Grace bragged about Puffington," Hermione nods in understanding, a smile taking over her face as well.

"That she did," Draco nods with a laugh. "Is she able to handle the Pygmy Puff on her own?" Draco asks, playing concerned parent. Hermione likes this look on him.

"She is. She hasn't had it long, but there have been no problems this far," Hermione answers with a smile. "Are you thinking of letting Liam get one?"

"Much to his Mother's dismay, yes," Draco rolls his eyes at the mention of his wife, making Hermione even more curious about the relationship between Draco and Astoria. "We're heading into town on Saturday to get one," he adds with a smiles. Hermione has noticed that whenever his son is brought into the conversation he smiles. She has yet to see Draco with Liam, but it's clear that he adores his son. Hermione loves the thought of that.

"I guess I should be apologizing," Hermione jokes.

"Not at all," Draco shakes his head. "I just want Liam to be happy and if a Pygmy Puff makes him happy then he will get one."

"What about Astoria?" Hermione asks the questions against her better judgement, trying to satisfy her curiosity a little.

"I don't want to think about her right now," Draco shakes his head, a dark look coming over his face for only a second before it's gone.

Surprising even herself, Hermione finds herself saying, "I know something's off with your marriage right now, considering we woke together on Sunday. If you ever need someone to talk to about it, I'm here." Hermione finishes with a shrug. She's not sure where that came from, but the pained look that was in Draco's eyes at the mention of his wife made Hermione want to make him feel better. She'd been through a tough marriage, even though hers was to her best friend, she'd still had to deal with the fall out when everything fell apart. Her and Ron had parted on great terms, but they'd still had to go through the whole process. Maybe in some way she would be able to help Draco.

Draco studies her for a second before nodding. "Thank you Hermione. I may take you up on that one day," Draco smiles, touched.

Hermione smiles back, but doesn't know what to say back so she lets a silence fall between them. It doesn't last long before Draco breaks it. "You should come over for dinner one night," Draco says out of the blue.

"Umm," Hermione starts, unsure of how to answer. Did Draco really just invite her to dinner? With his wife? Or with just him? She wasn't exactly sure if it even mattered, she should say no either way.

"Sorry," Draco backtracks when he sees Hermione's look. "I meant you and Grace, Ginny too if you'd like. Liam was asking the other day if Grace could come over and play sometime," Draco explains, seeming slightly flustered, something Hermione wasn't used to from Draco Malfoy.

Hermione brushes her hair back from her face as she runs over possible responses in her head. She should say no, but she wanted to say yes. What could the harm be? This was basically a play date for the children and the grownups would have dinner as well. If Ginny was there too, it wouldn't be wrong, would it? "Okay," Hermione nods slowly, giving in. "If Ginny can come too."

"I'll invite Blaise," Draco sends her a knowing wink. Apparently he knew that Ginny and Blaise had spend the majority of the weekend in bed together too.

"Perfect," Hermione smiles, happier that it wouldn't just be her and Draco alone in the house. If Astoria wasn't there it would still be weird, but she'd deal with it. This was for Grace and Liam after all.

"What night works for you?" Draco asks as he appraises Hermione with his eyes. The attraction between the two of them is hard to miss.

"I have Grace through Friday night this week," Hermione answers, twirling a strand of hair around her finger absently.

"Then how does Friday work? My Mum will be back from her trip into the country by then, I'm sure she'd like to join all of us," Draco says, giving Hermione even more of a reason to say yes. A dinner with Draco can't be interpreted the wrong way is Narcissa is there as well.

"That's perfect," Hermione nods, feeling safer about her choice to have dinner at the Malfoy Manor with Grace. By then, maybe she'll be able to subdue the urge to lean forward and kiss him. Hermione was in for a tough time trying to push these feelings for Draco that had suddenly appeared down. She'd do her best to stop fantasizing about him. He was married and she needed to get that through her head. Friday night would be for the kids, or at least that's what Hermione was going to keep telling herself.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Sorry it's been a few days, things have been busy! Here you go! Enjoy!**

"How did lunch go?" Ginny asks as soon as Hermione crosses the threshold to their office. The whole way back from lunch Hermione had been running over what had taken place in her mind. She hadn't exactly decided how she felt on what she'd agreed to. She was excited and nervous at the same time and a little weary. She wasn't exactly sure what Draco was hoping for by having them over for dinner. Was he hoping they'd repeat the other night? Or did he only have pure motives in mind? Hermione wasn't sure which she wanted him to have either. Right now she just wasn't sure about anything.

"It was interesting," Hermione says as she makes her way back over to her desk and sits down in her chair.

"You've got to give me more than that Hermione," Ginny sends her a pointed look and Hermione knows her well enough to know she's not going to give up until she has pulled every detail out of Hermione and dissected it.

"We're invited to dinner at Malfoy Manor on Friday," Hermione says, thinking this is as good a place as any to start. She needs Ginny to agree to come along for two different reasons. One because she doesn't trust herself to go alone and be with Draco and two, she is hoping she can push Ginny in Blaise's direction again. Even though her red headed friend sore she didn't want to get with Blaise again, Hermione had a feeling that if given the opportunity Ginny would jump all over it.

"Why?" Ginny tilts her head to the side and studies Hermione with a smile. "Are you and Draco starting an affair?" Ginny's suggestion has Hermione's face turning bright red. She would never do that! Yet, the idea of it has Hermione's heart racing in anticipation. The idea of sneaking around makes the whole thing even more inviting.

"NO!" Hermione shuts down any talk on that subject immediately. She's afraid of what Ginny might talk her into if given the chance. As strong as her resolve to stay away from Draco in terms of a relationship is, Hermione can feel herself getting weaker by the minute. If Draco really tried, he could talk her in to anything and that scared Hermione. She'd never been powerless to a guy before, she'd always had the upper hand in her relationships, but now that Draco was in the picture she found everything reversed. Draco wasn't even coming after Hermione like that, but Hermione still had thoughts of jumping into bed with him and starting this affair Ginny had suggested. Every time a thought like that popped up, Hermione swatted it down feeling guilty for even thinking it.

"Then why?" Ginny smirks as Hermione's quick and adamant response. The response had been too quick, giving off the impression that she was trying to cover something up.

"It's a play date for Grace and Liam, but Draco also invited you and me and he mentioned Narcissa and Blaise," Hermione adds the last name in a rush, hoping to slip it by Ginny.

"Don't even think about trying to set me up with Blaise. It's not going to work," Ginny sends Hermione a pointed look, not missing the mention of her lover from the previous weekend.

"I'm not Gin," Hermione rolls her eyes dramatically. She needs Ginny to agree to come, it would make her feel more comfortable. "I just need you there to be a buffer," Hermione admits as she bites her lower lip, praying her friend will agree to come.

"Don't trust yourself alone with Draco?" Ginny raises her eyebrows knowingly.

"No, I don't," Hermione admits, knowing it's not worth denying. It's pretty clear she is falling for Draco.

"Fine, I'll come," Ginny gives in with a nod. "But only for you, not because Blaise is going to be there," she crosses her arms over he chest defiantly, her eyes daring Hermione to contradict her.

"Thank you!" Hermione smiles. She doesn't say what's actually going through her mind, that she thinks Ginny's going because of Blaise. She knows it's not worth the fight. She needs Ginny to come with her and if she does it in denial that's fine by Hermione, as long as she comes.

"Are you free Friday night?" Draco asks Blaise as he walks into his office later that day. Ever since lunch Draco hadn't been able to keep the smile off his face. He was excited to have dinner with Hermione later this week, even if that meant everyone else had to be there too. It wasn't safe to be alone with her in a situation like that. Today at lunch he'd wanted to grab her by the hand and lead her somewhere more private where they could pick up where they left off the other night, but he didn't. He needed to get things with Astoria resolved first and Blaise had been helping on that.

"I am," Blaise nods. "Want to go out again?" his friends asks with a raised brow. Blaise is a player, there's no doubt about it, and Draco has learned to live vicariously through him.

"No, I'm have a few people over for dinner at the Manor," Draco answers as he moves over to take a seat in the chair across from Blaise's desk.

"Who exactly?" Blaise asks, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head as he studies Draco.

"Hermione and her daughter Grace and I think they may be bringing Ginny," Draco says, hoping the last name will hook Blaise in.

"Ginny will be there?" Blaise raises his brow in question. Draco can tell he's thoughts have gone back to his previous weekend full of fun.

"Hermione said she'd invite her," Draco shrugs. He knew Hermione wouldn't have come if he hadn't said her friend was invited too and Draco didn't blame her. If the pull was as big on her end as it was on his, she was struggling to control herself as well. He hoped that was the case, he have any desire to have his feelings unrequited. Since he'd first seen Hermione again less than a week ago, Draco felt himself falling for her. He was feeling things for Hermione Granger that he'd never felt for his wife, that was another reason he was so determined to get out of this marriage. He wanted the chance to see what was between him and Hermione.

"I'm in," Blaise nods as he moves forward to lean his elbows on his desk. "What's going on with you and Hermione?" his dark eyes are locked on Draco, gauging his reaction.

"I have no clue," Draco sighs and rakes a hand through his hair. "Found anything new?" Draco shifts the subject to the contract they'd both been pouring over.

"Actually I have," a sly smile slips over Blaise's face as he slides Draco's marriage contract towards him.

"What is it?" Draco asks in surprise as he leans forward to look at the document. They'd been searching for loopholes for the last few days and had come up pretty much empty handed until now. They'd found a few things that could be used to Draco's advantage, but not too much.

"I'll have to look into it a little more, but this paragraph right here states that the marriage can only be terminated due to extenuating circumstances and the debt must be able to be paid back," Blaise says, pointing at the paragraph.

Draco leans back and sighs, they've seen this statement before and he knew it was there. He was able to pay back the debt, but all bases seemed to be covered in terms of extenuating circumstances that counted. Astoria could get out of the marriage at any time if she wanted, but for Draco it was harder, since he'd entered into the marriage as a way to save the Malfoy estate. He now had the means to pay back all of his debts to Astoria, but she still had the ability to keep him locked into their marriage if she wanted and apparently she wanted. Draco wasn't sure why she want to stay in the loveless marriage they were in, but he was sure it had to do with something that benefited her.

"Yeah, but then if we go to the examples, it is all skewed in Astoria's favor," Draco points out.

"Not if there is significant evidence that she has been up to no good behind your back. I'm not sure if cheating is enough, but if she is up to illegal activity or something, that would definitely do it," Blaise flips to the page in the contract that supports what he'd just said.

"Do you really think she's up to something illegal?" Draco asks skeptically, he knew Astoria could be a bitch, but she had it made and he didn't think she'd get involved in something like that. She was smarter than she appeared and Draco knew she was making sure to cover all her bases when it came to the contract. She wouldn't do anything that would easily let him out of it.

"No, but if she's sleeping with someone who is, then we'd have a good case that she could be," Blaise points out.

Draco nods as he takes in Blaise's thoughts. It sounded like their best chance so far. "Very true."

"My other suggestion would be to talk to her and see if you can work something out between the two of you first," Blaise says. The suggestion was something Draco had been thinking of, but he wasn't sure if Astoria would go for it.

"I'll do that first, but I'd like to have a backup plan," Draco says after a moments thought. He'd plan on talking to Astoria about ending their marriage and see what her reaction was. If that didn't work, and he didn't think it would, he'd go after her legally, maybe the threat of legal action would be enough to sway things in Draco's favor. He wouldn't know unless he tried. First he'd see how Friday went with Hermione and everyone and then he'd deal with his big problem that was his wife.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Enjoy!**

When Friday night rolled around, Hermione's nerves had taken over. She kept telling herself that tonight wasn't a date, it was just a play date for Grace and Liam, but that didn't help any. Grace had been bouncing off the walls with excitement since they'd gotten home from the Ministry and was more than ready to head to Malfoy Manor. Hermione on the other hand was very close to talking herself out of going. She was afraid of how tonight might turn out.

A knock at the front door had Hermione jump in shock. She'd been expecting the arrival of Ginny, but she'd been lost in her own thoughts. She had been picturing the way she wanted tonight to be going. She wanted it to just be her and Draco, with Astoria far out of the picture. In this fantasy, the kids would be somewhere else and Draco and her would be getting up to no good in the otherwise empty Manor. She shook the dirty thoughts from her head and went to open the door for Ginny.

"Hey," Hermione forces a smile, trying to push down the butterflies that have arisen.

"Hey," Ginny smiles and pushes her way into the house. "What's wrong?" she asks when she actually gets a look at Hermione's face. Hermione's sure it's full of doubt.

"Nothing," Hermione shakes her head, sending her brown waves flying. "Let's just get this over with," she sighs.

"Not excited to see Draco?" Ginny asked with an arched brow, her expression actually shocked.

"I'm afraid of what's going to happen," Hermione answers honestly.

"Ahh yes, he is still married," Ginny nods in understanding. "Give it time Mione and I have a feeling he'll be yours."

"We shall see," Hermione shrugs, not wanting to get her hopes up any more than they currently are. Hermione is fully aware that Draco is unhappy with Astoria, but that doesn't mean he will ever get out of the marriage and if he did, nothing says he'll choose Hermione as his next partner.

"Is it time to go yet?" Grace asks as she bounces into the room, her red pigtails bouncing with her movements.

"It is," Hermione nods and they make their way towards the door. The three of them head outside and apparate to Malfoy Manor.

Hermione's nerves are still surging as they make their way up to the big front door and knock the brass snake shaped knocker on the door. Only a beat passes before the door is pulled back by none other than Draco himself. His face lights up with a smile when he sees them. "I'm glad you all could make it," he says as he steps back and lets them into the entry way. Hermione looks around the house, noticing a lot of things have changed since she was last here. It almost doesn't even look like the same place where Bellatrix had tortured her. She lets out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and her nerves settle a little. Maybe they hadn't all been caused by the idea of seeing Draco again, maybe some of them had to do with past nightmares that occasionally still haunted her.

"Grace!" a small blonde boy bursts into the foyer, radiating energy. "Let's go play!" Liam exclaims in excitement. Hermione smiles as her daughter moves forward to join him, her excitement as evident as his.

"I brought Puffington!" Grace exclaims as she holds out the purple fuzzy puff. Liam pulls her off in the direction in which he'd come from. Hermione can't help think that the two of them are adorable together. They seem like they could be great friends and if they're anything like their parents then it wouldn't surprise Hermione one bit. If Draco hadn't been a self entitled little git in first year, Hermione could have seen them getting along like they did now.

"Kids," Draco shakes his head as he too watches them run off. "Remember when we were their age?" he laughs as he turns back to Hermione and Ginny.

"I vaguely remember you being a little arsehole when you were that age," Hermione sends him a look.

"And you were a know it all," Draco smiles as he remembers.

"She still is," Ginny laughs and pats Hermione's shoulder as she starts to head in the direction the kids had just headed. "I heard talk of a certain colleague of yours being here," she says, betraying her excitement at the thought of seeing Blaise again. Ginny had swore up and down that she didn't have any interest in getting involved with Blaise, but Hermione hadn't believe it for a second.

"Ahh, Blaise is right this way," Draco says knowingly, leading the two women through the doorway that led to a sitting room where everyone was gathered. Everyone consisted of Blaise and Narcissa and the two children. Looking around, Hermione didn't see any sign of Astoria.

Ginny automatically heads over to talk to Blaise and Narcissa and Draco hangs back next to Hermione. "What's going through your head right now Hermione?" Draco asks quietly as he leans closer to her.

"Nothing important," Hermione shakes her head, she'd been lost in thought again. She really needed to learn to get her thoughts under control, it was going to do her no good to fantasize about Draco while he was standing right next to her. That would set her up to make a huge mistake, like throwing herself at him, which was something she really didn't want to do. She couldn't do that.

"I'm not buying it," Draco sends her a knowing smile. "I think the things going through my head right about now are the same things going through yours."

"And what might those things be?" Hermione raises her brow at him, challenging him. Being this close to Draco makes Hermione's heart rate speed up in hope and anticipation.

"Along the same lines as last weekend," Draco whispers, his grey eyes connecting with hers meaningfully.

"You're married," Hermione points out, knowing it's the only possible way to set this conversation back on track and away from her fantasies.

"I am," Draco nods, his expression turning sour. He rakes a hand throw his blonde hair in what appears to be frustration. "Hopefully not for long," he adds in a breath. Hermione's stomach jumping up at the thought of Draco getting out of his marriage and being a free man. She might stand a shot then.

"Where is your lovely wife?" Hermione sends him a pointed look, her eyes glancing around the room to prove her point.

"I have no clue," Draco rolls his eyes. With that, Draco leads Hermione over to the group gathered in the middle of the room and they join on their conversation, catching up.

"What the hell is going on here?" a shrill icy voice pulls everyone's attention to the doorway, including the kids.

"Hi Mummy!" Liam calls from the corner where he's playing with Grace. Astoria ignores her son and levels her husband with an icy glare. Hermione doesn't miss the way Astoria doesn't seem to care that her son is talking to her, she's dead set on ripping her husbands gorgeous head off.

"We have company for dinner," Draco answers calmly, almost as if he's talking to a child. "I told you about this last night."

"We need to talk," Astoria huffs and with hands on her hips she whips around and walks back out into the foyer.

Draco rolls his eyes and sighs. "Excuse me for a minute," he says as he follows his pissed off wife, closing the wood door behind him. Hermione and the rest stare after them, hearing every word of their fight through the door. Ginny subtly sends a silencing charm in the children's direction so they don't have to hear the words, but the adults listen on as the drama unfolds.

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	14. Chapter 14

**I enjoy nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Enjoy!**

"What the hell is going on? Why are _those people_ here in my house?" Astoria rages as soon as the door is closed behind Draco. Her voice echoes off the high ceilings and Draco knows that the guests inside the sitting room can more than likely hear every word. That doesn't bother him one bit, he just hopes that someone sends a silencing spell in the direction of the children because he really doesn't want Liam to hear his mother being a raging mental.

"First off, this is my house and always has been Astoria," Draco sets her straight, ready to have this fight here and now. There's no point in putting it off any longer. "Second, t _hose people_ are my friends and they are here for dinner."

"Since when have you been friends with a Weasley and Granger?" Astoria sends Draco a skeptical look, jutting her hip out and resting her hand upon it, looking just like a spoiled little brat.

"It doesn't really matter how long I've been friends with Hermione and Ginny," Draco makes a point of using their first names to piss Astoria off even more. "The point is that they are my friends and I am allowed to have them over for dinner without my egotistical controlling bitch of a wife throwing a hissy fit," his words are harsh as he stares Astoria down, daring her to fight back. Draco is fed up with Astoria and everything about her, he is more than ready to get out of this relationship and the news that Blaise had given him earlier makes him even more determined to back her into a corner.

"What did you just call me?" Astoria raises her voice, her pale skin turning pink in anger. Draco can practically see the steam coming out of her ears, something that would have had him giving in a few weeks ago, but not anymore. He isn't afraid of her.

"You heard me and you can't deny a single word," Draco sends her a pointed look. "Now would you like to act like an adult and join us for dinner or are you going to keep acting like a spoiled six year old?" he cocks his head to the side, his voice remaining calm the whole time.

"Hell will freeze over before I join them for dinner," Astoria flips her hair haughtily over her shoulder, sticking her nose up in the air.

"You need to get over yourself Astoria," Draco shakes his head, finding the way his wife was acting to be humorous.

"Me? I'm the one who needs to get over herself?" she screeches, her eyes wild with anger. "You're the one who needs to get off his high horse and get back to reality," she stomps her foot and crosses her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up but Draco refuses to look, he has never been impressed by her features.

"And what reality might that be?" Draco cocks his head to the side and waits.

"The reality that I own you," Astoria hisses.

"That's where you're wrong, babe. You don't own me anymore. I found a way out of this hell hole of a marriage and you'd be smart to let me out before I drag your precious name through the mud," Draco says the words he'd been planning on saving for later, but no time is better than the present. Hermione standing in the other room gave him the courage that he needed to get this going in the right direction now. The sooner he ended this charade with Astoria, the sooner he could try to win over Hermione.

"What the hell are you talking about? There is no way out, Draco," Astoria spits his name, her voice full of confidence.

"Wrong again, babe. I can get out of this marriage if you're involved in something illegal that endangers our child," Draco states simple, hoping plan will work and he won't be forced to follow through with any threats he makes tonight. The worst case scenario is that Astoria calls his bluff, but it might not be a bluff much longer if he finds evidence of what he and Blaise suspect.

"I am not involved in anything illegal," Astoria rolls her eyes, arms still crossed. She doesn't even acknowledge the fact that Draco had brought up Liam. That only goes to confirm his suspicion that she doesn't care one iota about their precious child and that pisses Draco off more than anything else.

"You might not be, but we both know Seth McCoy is," Draco sends her one of his infamous smirks as he brings up the name of the guy who she's been sleeping with behind his back. She doesn't think he knows, but he's not stupid.

"What in the bloody hell does Seth McCoy have to do with any of this?" Astoria puts her hand on her hip and tries to look affronted, but a certain fear in her eyes tells Draco he's on to something.

"Oh cut the crap Astoria. We both know you've been having an affair with him for the last year. You haven't exactly been inconspicuous," Draco shakes his head at his wife, the look of fear in her eyes growing, she knows she's trapped.

"I have not!" she protests, pretending to be affronted. "Why would you think something stupid like that?"

Draco just shakes his head and ignores Astoria's protests. "Seth is a known dealer in the black market, all it would take is a simple check into his background to prove that he has been up to something illegal. Since you have been seen with him more times than I can count, I can easily turn this to make it look like you are involved as well. So you have two options, you can give in and end this marriage with your dignity intact or I can pull up all your dirty secrets and do this the hard way," Draco sets out the ultimatum, in his gut knowing he's doing the right thing. He needs to think of Liam and Liam would be much better off with someone like Hermione as his Mum versus Astoria.

"You wouldn't," Astoria crosses her arms and sticks her pointy chin in the air.

"Just watch me. You don't even know half the things that I'm capable of," Draco's eyes are like steel as he stares down his wife.

"If you pull out my secrets, I'll tell yours," Astoria cocks her head to the side, thinking she'd won.

"You can tell the whole world my secrets, I'm not ashamed that I married you to save the Malfoy estate. You can spread any rumors you want, I will go to the ends of the world to get away from you. You will be the one losing Astoria," Draco spits, his words full of venom. He hopes the threat gets through to Astoria because this would go so much better for both of them if she went along with it.

"I am not going to give you what you want Draco," Astoria stubbornly says, her eyes resolved.

"I'd think that over again if I were you babe. You stand to lose a hell of a lot more than I do if I take this public and if you refuse to do this civilly that is exactly what I will do. Don't push me, I'd do anything I'd have to to protect my son from you," Draco's words are dead serious. He is fed up with all of this shit and wants out, he'll do whatever he has to to get it.

"If he's want you want you can have him," Astoria's words are careless and the look in her eyes tells Draco that she knows she just made a huge mistake by saying he could have Liam without any sort of fight.

"I want you out of his life and out of mine. You have one week to decide how you want to handle this Astoria. I will take this public, so I'd come to your senses and end this marriage with your dignity intact," with those words, Draco turns around and opens the door to the sitting room, leaving Astoria behind. Somehow he'd managed to keep his temper intact even though he was fuming on the inside. He couldn't look at Astoria for a second longer. She had just proven that she didn't care one bit about their son, he was a burden to her. Draco had known it all along, but hearing out loud was so much worse. He felt sorry for little Liam, he had a mother who he wanted to win over, but she didn't care about him and he never would. She only cared about herself. With an even bigger resolve, Draco slammed the door behind him and came face to face with his friends. He was going to win this fight if it was the last thing he did, for Liam's sake.

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	15. Chapter 15

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Enjoy!**

Hermione's eyes grow wide as she listens to Draco and Astoria's words out in the hallway. The wood door isn't enough to hide their conversation, she can hear every word. Hermione is shocked by most of the things that come out of Astoria's mouth, she's talking like she has something to hold over Draco. That doesn't surprise Hermione too much, since that would explain why their marriage is as terrible as it seems to be.

Hermione looks over towards Ginny and Blaise with an expression that says, 'Is she serious?'

"Sadly she is," Narcissa answers her look with a whisper next to Hermione's ear.

"Why are they still together if they seem to hate each other so much?" Hermione whispers as she stays tuned in to the conversation outside the door with one ear.

"There marriage isn't as simple as most. They both have strings that have gotten crossed and there will be casualties if they split up, but I'm starting to thing the good out weighs the bad and Draco should grow a pair and leave Little Miss Priss behind," Narcissa's words surprise Hermione and she finds herself smiling. If she would have thought a few years ago that she'd be standing here right now talking to Narcissa Malfoy, she would have thought she was crazy.

"I agree with you there. He needs to do what's best for him," Hermione finds herself saying, glancing over at Narcissa who is staring at the closed door with a conflicted look on her face. She looks both worried and hopeful, Hermione finds that she's feeling the same way. She's worried about how this is going to play out, but she's hopeful that maybe Draco will 'grow a pair' as his mother so elegantly put it and leave Astoria.

Hermione's ears perk up when Draco mentions separating, her heart jumping at the thought. "Maybe he's finally going to do it," Narcissa breathes and they listen on as Draco puts Astoria in her place for once. "If he doesn't follow through on his threat to leave her, I will do everything in my power to separate the two of them," Narcissa mutters as Astoria clearly states that she has no interest in her child.

Hermione's heart sinks at the words, looking over at where Liam and Grace are playing obliviously she can't help but feel tears rise to her eyes. She can't imagine not loving Grace unconditionally, poor Liam doesn't seem to have a mother like that. If Hermione has anything to do with it, she will make sure she makes Liam feel loved whether or not she's ever going to be with Draco. Liam deserves so much more than Astoria and it's clear that between Draco and Narcissa they are trying to give it to him. As the door to the sitting room opens and a flustered looking Draco walks in, Hermione vows that she will help Liam feel loved as well.

"Sorry about that," Draco mutters as he closes the door behind him, Astoria is nowhere to be seen.

"What's a party without a blow up between husband and wife?" Blaise shrugs off the moment with a joke. No one else acknowledges the fight and they go back to talking like they had been before the whole Astoria thing happened. They laugh, talk, eat and drink as the night wears on, putting the moment behind them. Hermione takes this opportunity to observe Draco and she what he's really like now a days. The guy she used to know back at Hogwarts is long gone, replaced by the man she woke up next to less than a week ago. Draco is nothing but, kind and caring and funny. Seeing him with Liam proves that it's not an act he's putting on, this is the real Draco Malfoy and against her better judgement, Hermione finds herself falling for him.

It's not until later that night, after dinner and many drinks, that Hermione finds herself alone with Draco again. With the alcohol swirling through her system she's finding it harder and harder to resist Draco, she can't think of why she even wanted to resist him in the first place. Clearly that was impossible. Draco Malfoy was irresistible.

"Sorry about earlier," Draco sighs as he sits down on the loveseat next to her. Blaise and Ginny had disappeared a little while ago and Narcissa is off with the children entertaining them.

"Don't be, we've all had our lovers quarrels before," Hermione shakes her head with a smile. She'd had many quarrels with Ron before they'd broken up, privately and in public.

"The problem with that is that Astoria and I are far from lovers any more and I just want her out of my life for good," Draco rakes a hand through his hair and relaxes back against the couch. His body language is so telling, he is exhausted with all of this madness that is his marriage with Astoria.

Hermione just nods, unsure of what she should say in this situation. She rests what she hopes in a comforting hand on Draco's thigh without even thinking. Draco's eyes slowly travel down to Hermione's hand and thats the first time Hermione thinks about what she's doing and she goes to remove her hand, but Draco stops her, putting her hand on top of hers. "Don't," he whispers. "Help me forget," Draco breaths as he leans in closer, his lips less than an inch from Hermione's. He's close enough that Hermione can smell his musky after shave and see the slight light stubble dusting his jaw, she can feel herself melting into him, her eyes sliding closed. When Draco's soft lips meet hers a shock of electricity shoots through Hermione's whole body and she's on fire, the type of fire only Draco seems to be able to produce from her. Pushing rational thought out the window, Hermione's hands move to tangle in Draco's silky hair as she falls into his kiss, meeting him move for move.

Her brain has completely shut off and in this moment only her and Draco exist. There is something in the back of Hermione's mind trying to break free and talk some sense in her, but the instant Draco's tongue glides against hers it's gone.

"Good thing Astoria's not here," a voice in the doorway has the two of them shooting apart as if they'e been shocked. Hermione whips around to see Narcissa standing in the doorway with a grin on her face. Hermione's heart is racing in her chest and dread is washing over her, she can't believe she'd just kissed Draco again after she's told herself time and time again that as long as he was with Astoria she couldn't have him. Maybe it was the fight she'd witnessed earlier that had wiped everything from her mind.

"Mum," Draco groans as his eyes meet Narcissa as well. He seems more annoyed that they were interrupted than the fact that he'd just cheated on his wife, again.

"I'd keep that kind of behavior to a minimum until this separation is final. Or I'd find somewhere better to continue on than out in the open where anyone can walk in on you," Narcissa winks before walking off, leaving the two of them alone again.

"This can't keep happening," Hermione jumps up from the couch, she needs to put space between herself and Draco. "We can't keep doing this."

"I am going to get out of this thing with Astoria," Draco says, his voice strong, as he stands from the couch and closes the distance between himself and Hermione. She unconsciously backs up until her back is against the wall and Draco has his arms on either side of her, trapping her. "And then we are going to pick up where with left off because I cannot stop thinking about your lips on mine Hermione Granger," Draco's breath is barely above a whisper as he leans in and places one last kiss on Herimone's lips before pulling away. "You will be mine one day," with those parting words, Draco pulls back and runs a hand through his hair, giving Hermione the space she needs.

"Hey Daddy!" Liam races into the room and Draco turns his attention to him. Hermione watches on from her position against the wall, not really seeing. She's too busy running everything over in her mind, the only thing that is making any sense are Draco's final words. "You will be mine one day." Hermione loved the thought.

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	16. Chapter 16

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Enjoy!**

After Draco's last words, that were still on repeat in Hermione's brain, Hermione starts to wander the Manor in search of Ginny. She needs to get out of there now before she does something stupid, like let Draco drag her off to one of the many rooms in the giant house.

"Are you okay dear?" Hermione jumps when she hears the voice as she turns the corner towards what appears to be another sitting room. The house is a maze.

"I didn't see you there!" Hermione exclaims as she finds Narcissa sitting on the antique looking couch in the center of the room.

"I didn't mean to scare you," Narcissa says before patting the seat next to her on the couch. "I think we need to talk for a second."

"Okay," Hermione says slowly and reluctantly moves over to take the seat next to Narcissa, anxious of what this might be about. Narcissa had just walked in on her snogging Draco, who was very much attached even if he didn't want to be.

"I see what's happening between Draco and you," Narcissa says once Hermione is seated facing her. "I'm all for it, but you two need to be careful if he is going to get out of this thing with Astoria civilly," her words surprise Hermione. She didn't expect that Draco's mum would be on their side like this. This was definitely a different Narcissa than when Hermione had first met her, but then again Draco was different as well. The years had done good for them.

"Oh, trust me, I don't want to get in the way of Draco getting what he needs," Hermione assures Narcissa. "I'm trying to stay as far away from him, but somehow I seem to be failing," Hermione lets out a small laugh and brushes a curl back out of her face.

"It's okay dear, I see what's happening between you two and it's real. Draco just has a bit of baggage right now. Baggage that he needs to cut, especially after what we all heard earlier this evening. Astoria doesn't care one bit about the well being of Draco or Liam, she only cares about herself. I believe Draco is doing the right thing by trying to get her to make the move of ending their marriage, if he does it things will get dirty. I think you, Hermione, are just the motivation he needs to actually follow through on his plans this time around," Narcissa pats Hermione's leg comfortingly.

"This time?" Hermione finds herself asking, out of all the things that she could have asked, this was the most trivial.

"Yes, Draco has wanted to get out of this marriage for years and been just about ready to make his move many times, but things have gotten in the way and made him think maybe things could change. Liam was one of those things, but that sweet little boy deserves so much more than he has gotten in Astoria and I think that's another reason Draco isn't going to give up this time around. He is thinking about what is best for his son, not for him. Promise me one thing Hermione," Narcissa's warm grey eyes connect with Hermione's brown ones, hope glimmering in them.

"What is that?" Hermione asks, knowing if it was something that would help Draco find happiness, she'd agree to whatever it was.

"Don't give up on my son. I think you are exactly what he needs and I don't want to see him lose the chance at being with you because of his greedy, selfish wife," Narcissa's words are laced with venom when it comes to Astoria. Clearly, she is fed up with Astoria and her conniving ways, the thought makes Hermione smile.

"That I can promise you," Hermione nods, knowing even without the promise, she wasn't going to give up on Draco. It may have been for selfish reasons, but she wanted Draco in her life, that much she was sure of.

"Good," Narcissa smiles. "I think you are exactly what my son needs right now. Just make sure you two keep the physical things to a more private location than the sitting room," Narcissa teases with a wink.

Hermione can feel herself blushing as she thinks about how Narcissa walked in on her and Draco. "Trust me, you don't have to worry about that," Hermione assures her. She has no intention of getting involved in that way with Draco until after Astoria is dealt with.

Narcissa studies Hermione for a second before saying, "I know you probably plan on trying to stay away from Draco until Astoria is out of the picture, but we have both seen how that is going so far. Take some advice from someone who's been around a bit longer than you, don't waste the opportunity, just do it in a way that is a little more secretive than before."

Hermione just stares at Narcissa, unsure of how to react. Did Draco's mother just give her permission to help him cheat on his current wife? Would Hermione actually act on the advice? It was definitely getting harder and harder to resist Draco every time she saw him. Should she really get involved with him now and help him have an affair? After the things she'd heard Astoria saying earlier, she really did want to stick it to her and this would be the perfect way, but would it ruin Draco's chances to get out of the marriage as simply as possible? Before she made any rash decisions, she'd have to talk all of this over with Ginny.

"Okay, I will think about it," Hermione nods slowly. She really isn't sure how else to respond. She can't tell Narcissa that she wouldn't be following her advice, but she also couldn't tell her she would be since she had no clue how she was going to go forward.

"That's all I can ask," Narcissa smiles as she rises from the sofa, their conversation over. "If you ever need to talk about anything that has to do with my son, you know where to find me."

"Thank you," Hermione smiles, truly happy that someone else is on her side. It seems everyone she encounters is pushing her towards Draco, granted all she'd run into were Narcissa, Ginny and Draco, but nevertheless they were all for it.

"Do you know where Grace is?" Hermione asks Narcissa as she stands as well. "It's getting late and we should get going."

"Last I saw, she was with Ginny and Blaise in the playroom," Narcissa says before giving Hermione directions to the playroom.

"Thank you," Hermione smiles again and starts off towards her destination. She had a lot to think about and she had a feeling she already knew what her final decision would be. She had a feeling she'd end up sneaking around with Draco, since trying to resist had clearly failed thus far, but she didn't want to jeopardize his current situation. She needed to talk it through to figure out what she should do. She needed Ginny.

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	17. Chapter 17

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

 **Enjoy!**

"What happened that's got you all frazzled?" Ginny asks as she and Hermione sit on the couch in Hermione's family room. They'd gotten back from Malfoy Manor a little while ago and Hermione had put Grace to bed for the night before they'd settled down and got the chance to talk.

"I don't even know where to start," Hermione sighs as she leans back against the back of the couch. She'd grabbed Ginny as quickly as she could and pulled her and Grace out of the Manor. She needed to put distance between herself and Draco, but now that she was at her own home again she was feeling foolish for thinking she needed to rush out of there. Maybe she should have stayed and seen where things with Draco went, the possibilities kept running through her head.

"What happened starting from the time Blaise and I left you and Draco alone together," Ginny smirks, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

"I should have known you did that on purpose," Hermione pretends to be mad at Ginny, but fails miserably when a smile breaks out on her face. Inwardly she is thanking and cursing her friends at the same time for leaving her alone with Draco.

"Yes, you should have," Ginny nods, her red hair slipping in front of her face in the process. "Now spill."

Hermione goes on to tell Ginny all about her little encounter with Draco and his lips and the way Narcissa walked in on them. She also tells Ginny about Draco's statement that one day she would be his. Wrapping up with her conversation with Narcissa, Hermione sits back and studies Ginny's reaction, waiting for her to speak.

"Wow Mione, sounds like you had quite the night," Ginny nods approvingly.

"What do I do about any of it?" Hermione asks, afraid of what the answer might be.

"Follow Narcissa's advice," Ginny's smile is devilish as she wags her eyebrows at Hermione suggestively. "Hop on the Slytherin Sex God and go for a ride."

"Ginny!" Hermione gasps at her friends dirty words. The problem was, that was exactly what she wanted to do.

"Don't even bother protesting, we both know that's what you want to do," Ginny says knowingly as she raises her brow at Hermione. There is no way Hermione will get out of this if she tries to deny what she wants to do. Ginny knows her much too well for that.

"What about Astoria?" Hermione finds herself asking, starting to truly consider the idea of starting some form of relationship with Draco even if he was still married.

"Forget about her. Draco and Blaise are handling her. All you have to do is stay out of her line of fire and you'll be fine," Ginny shrugs.

"And how do I do that if I start 'riding' Draco as you so eloquently suggested," Hermione raises her brow at her friends, trying to reason with herself and Ginny.

"Put that pretty little head of yours to work and figure out how to be with Draco without getting caught. I have a feeling you can do pull it off," Ginny smiles at Hermione.

"What were you and Blaise up to tonight?" Hermione changes the subject, letting her mind wander with ideas of getting Draco to herself. It's hard to resist getting involved with Draco when everyone seems to be pushing her towards him. She needs to figure out what to do and quick, before she messes everything up. Sometime soon she would have to pay Draco a little visit and talk to him straight out, seeing what he thought of everything.

"Oh nothing of importance," Ginny waves off the question nonchalantly, but Hermione knows that she has a lot more to spill than she's letting on.

"Don't give me that," Hermione sends Ginny a pointed glare and the red head gives in.

"We're going out tomorrow night," Ginny answers with a smirk.

"What happened to not seeing him again?" Hermione tilts her head to the side, challenging Ginny.

"We're going to try a friends with benefits things. It'll be mutually beneficially," Ginny's smug smile has Hermione wondering what it would be like to have that type of relationship with Draco. Those thoughts plague her mind for the rest of the night.

Laying alone in bed that night, Draco can't get Hermione out of his head. Ever since his lips touched hers this evening the image of her had been haunting his every thought. He had no clue how he was going to resist her until Astoria was out of the picture once and for all. Honestly, he had no idea why he was trying to resist her. It wasn't what he wanted at all. What he wanted was Hermione in bed with him right now, her limbs tangled with his as he showed her what real pleasure was. He had a feeling she'd been missing out with Weasley.

"Get control of yourself man!" Draco groans out loud as he sits up and flops back against his pillow. "She has morals." That was it, that was why he was trying to resist. It was what she wanted, but if it was really what she wanted, would she have kissed him back so greedily earlier?

Raking his hands through his hair in frustration, Draco vowed to get Hermione to see things his way. Why waste time or the opportunity to be together now just because of Astoria? Surely between the two of them they could find a way to go under the radar and never be suspected.

Shaking his head, he decided he'd worry about all of that in the morning, for now he'd just let fantasies of Hermione play out in his head. It was the best he could do at the moment and he needed some form of release, too bad Hermione wasn't there to help him with it. He'd have to take care of himself.

Floating off into the inner desires of his mind, Draco pictured Hermione like she was there in front of him.

 _Standing there in nothing but a black lace bra and barely there thong, Hermione bit her lip as she looked down at Draco who was sitting on the bed. "Come here," Draco murmured, reaching out and grabbing her waist, pulling her closer. Reaching up, Draco brushes Hermione's brown curls from her face, tangling his fingers in them and pulling her lips to his in the process. Hermione willingly moved with Draco's guiding hands, arching her back as she leaned over and pressed her lips to Draco's. Hermione's breasts were straining to fall out of her C cup bra as she leaned closer to Draco, surrendering to him._

 _Hermione moans into Draco's mouth as his hands move to travel over her body, fondling her breasts when his hands found them straining towards him. The moan sends a jolt of electricity straight through Draco and to his ever growing member. Snaking a hand around to the clasp of her bra, Draco expertly unhooks it and lets the material fall from her small frame and land on the floor in between them. Groaning at the sight, Draco quickly grabs Hermione by the waist and moves them around until she is pinned on the bed below him._

 _In the blink of an eye, Draco has shed them both of their remaining clothing and is sliding into Hermione. Embracing the feeling of her body pressed against his._

With a groan, Draco feels himself letting go, falling into the fantasies of him and Hermione. There is no doubt in his mind that he needs the real thing as soon as he possibly can get it. He's fallen for Hermione. He's fallen for way more than just her sexy body and skilled lips. He'd fallen hard and fast for every little bit of her.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry it has been so long, but I'm back now and I am hoping to get this story wrapped up before life gets in the way again!**

 **I own nothing Harry Potter!**

"Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?" Liam asks insistently as he enters the kitchen the next morning with Narcissa following behind him. Draco is finishing up his morning coffee as he leans against the counter. He can't seem to shake the images of his fantasy turned dream last night. He had been thinking of Hermione before he'd gone to bed and he'd dreamt about her as well. There was no escaping the thought of her.

"Yes, Li," Draco pulls himself from his thoughts and turns to face his son who is beaming up at him.

"Are we going to get my Pygmy Puff today?" Liam bounces up and down in excitement. Clearly he hadn't forgotten about Draco's promise.

"Yes we are," Draco nods, finishing off the rest of his coffee and setting the mug on the counter. "We will leave in just a little bit," Draco says as he crouches down to Liam's height.

"Is Mummy coming with us?" he asks, tilting his little head to the side. His eyes are round as he stares at Draco.

"I don't think so buddy. I'm not sure where your Mummy is," Draco sighs, reaching out to ruffle Liam's bright blonde hair. He hates the fact that Astoria isn't here for Liam, but after last night it doesn't surprise him one bit.

"Okay," Liam nods slowly, his face falling slightly before he beams again. "Can we go now Daddy?" Liam bounces back.

"Just give me one minute and we can go," Draco smiles at Liam and stands back up, looking at his Mum. "Would you like to join us, Mum?"

"Of course," Narcissa nods as she looks between Liam and Draco. Draco knows his Mum wants to talk to him about last night, but he's not ready to do that yet. She'd caught him and Hermione red handed and she'd been right, they should have been able to carry on an affair, if that's what they were heading towards, in secret. The problem was, whenever Hermione was that close to him, Draco couldn't think straight anymore. It was a serious problem.

"Yay!" Liam jumps up ad down at the news that his Grandmum will be joining them on their trip into town. "Let's go, Daddy!" Liam exclaims as he runs over and grabs Draco's hand, pulling him towards the Floo.

Draco lets his son pull him across the room and as a group they travel to Hogsmeades. "I love this place!" Liam squeals as he looks around the busy street, taking in the colorful window signs and displays. "Can we stop in there?" Liam asks as his little eyes land on the broomsticks in a storefront window.

"Of course," Draco smiles follows an ecstatic Liam across the street. With a smile on his face, Draco lets his son drag them in store front after store front, spoiling him with little gifts everywhere they turned. It had been way too long since Draco had taken Liam out for an adventure like this and it felt good. Draco pushed everything with Astoria from his mind for the afternoon and showered his son with attention.

"Time to get my Pygmy Puff!" Liam exclaims as they reach Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"Draco Malfoy, long time no see," a familiar voice drawls as they enter the shop filled with chaos and excitement.

Draco looks to his right, his eyes landing on the red head who had spoken. Standing there with a smug smile on his face is Ron Weasley. "Will you help Liam pick out a Pygmy Puff?" Draco looks over his shoulder and asks him Mum, before turning his attention back to Ron.

"Of course," Narcissa smiles and takes Liam's hand, leading him over to the display.

"Weasley," Draco nods in greeting as he crosses the short distance until he's standing next to Ron. The red head looks the same as he did during Hogwarts years, not much has changed.

"I hear you've been spending time with my ex-wife," Ron smirks, his blue eyes sparkling with a smile.

"Where'd you hear that?" Draco asks, running a hand over the back of his neck. The last thing he needed was the whole Wizarding World knowing he'd been spending time with Hermione. That would put his plan to get rid of Astoria off track.

"My daughter," Ron answers, nodding his head across the shop. Draco follows his line of sight and sees Grace Weasley talking animatedly with Liam as she points to different Pygmy Puffs. It must be Ron's weekend with his daughter, that meant Hermione might be home alone. Draco pushes that thought from his mind. He needed to figure things out with Astoria before he jumped into bed with Hermione.

"Let's keep that on the DL. Astoria doesn't need anymore ammo," Draco says quietly, sending Ron a pointed look.

"Understood," Ron nods, surprising Draco. A few years ago the red head would have gone out of his way to mess things up for Draco, but that doesn't seem to be his intention now. It appeared Draco wasn't the only one who'd matured since Hogwarts days. "Speaking of your ice queen of a wife, I just saw her across town with Seth McCoy. They were arguing," the red head informs.

"Really?" Draco draws the words out, his mind running with possibilities. Was Astoria really stupid enough to be seen with Seth mere hours after Draco had given her an ultimatum? Would this be Draco's chance to stick it to her?

"Yeah. Things seemed pretty heated," Ron nods.

"Where did you see them?" Draco asks, heart racing at the thought of catching Astoria in the act and putting another nail in her coffin.

"They were standing outside the café over on Eagle Street, not sure if they're still there," Ron answers with a shrug.

"I have to go. It was good seeing you again, Weasley," Draco smiles in Ron's direction, his mind elsewhere. If he was quick enough, he could catch Astoria and Seth together. Crossing the room in two quick strides Draco reaches his Mum and son standing with Grace. "Can you watch Liam for a little while?" Draco asks his Mum, eyes flicking towards the door he's dying to go out of.

"Of course, what's going on?" Narcissa asks, concern on her face.

"I'll explain everything when I get back," Draco calls over his shoulder as he dashes out the door and into the busy streets. Draco winds his way through the crowds, squeezing in between people and moving around road blocks as he makes his way over to where Ron had seen Astoria.

He stops in front of the café, eyes searching the outdoor tables for the familiar blonde hair of his wife. He does see her there, but had he really expect too? Astoria was too smart to stand out in public with Seth for too long, they would have moved to a more private location by now. Just as disappointment is setting in, Draco's eyes catch movement in the shadowed alley next to the café. He quickly moves over to investigate and stops in his tracks when he sees Astoria, wand drawn as she holds it to Seth's throat pining him to the brick wall as her stormy eyes are boring into him, her thin lips moving rapidly.

It takes a second for Draco to process what he is seeing, surprised that Astoria is holding a full grown man twice her size at wand point. What exactly was going on? Was she really threatening Seth? That's what it looked like anyway.

Draco quietly slips into the shadows, drawing close enough to overhear what Astoria is saying. "If you breath a word of any of this to anyone, I will kill you," her voice is a hiss. Seth McCoy, the tall, muscular man, is cowering to Astoria, dark eyes full of fear.

A smile slides across Draco's lips at the thought, he had just caught Astoria doing exactly what would implicate her the most. Smirk on his lips, Draco steps out of the shadows and clears him throat, making his presence known. Both Astoria and Seth whip around in surprise at the noise, eyes wide. Astoria's wand drops, giving Seth a chance to sneak out of her hold and take a few steps away.

"Fancy meeting you here, darling," Draco drawls as he smirks at his wife. He'd just caught her red handed and she clearly wasn't thrilled.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here, Draco?" Astoria spits, icy eyes glaring at him. Her shoulders are tense and she looks like a cornered animal ready to pounce.

"I could ask you the same, sweet heart," Draco says voice sickly sweet, unable to keep the smirk off his lips. Inside he is elated that he caught Astoria up to no good, who would have thought Weasley would have been the reason he was filled with joy? Draco made a mental note to thank the red head when this whole thing with his bitter wife was over.

Astoria doesn't say anything, she just narrows her eyes to slits, thinly arched brows lowering as she glares at Draco. If looks could kill. "If you must know, I brought our son to buy his Pygmy Puff this morning," Draco explains, adding a dig at the end, "You would know if you'd been at home last night, or this morning for that matter."

"Oh, that wretched thing," Astoria scoffs with a roll of her icy eyes, turning her nose up at the thought of their sons happiness. Draco can feel the anger growing inside of him. He didn't give a shit what Astoria thought about him, but if she wasn't going to put their son's needs and happiness first before her own, he had a serious problem.

"What are you doing here, honey?" Draco ignores her comment, getting back to the heart of this encounter. "Trouble with your lover?" he asks, cocking his head towards Seth who was standing out of the way hoping to be forgotten.

"That is none of your business, Draco" Astoria spits, crossing her bony arms over her body in defiance.

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong, babe," Draco laughs, taking a step closer to his wife. "It is definitely my business if my wife is cheating on me," Draco sends her a sickly sweet smile, looking down at her and waiting for her reaction.

"Bastard," Astoria breathes, raising her hand to slap Draco, always having a flair for drama.

Draco catches her wrist in his hand, stopping her from slapping him across the cheek. "Babe, think about my offer," he says quietly, loud enough for Seth to hear but just barely. "You have until Friday," Draco smiles, releasing Astoria's arm and taking a step back. He doesn't care that he caught Astoria with Seth, threatening him. He knew something was going on between the two and he didn't care what it was. If Astoria was cheating on him, he was going to use it to his advantage. He had no interest in his wife anymore, maybe he never did. It was time to grow a pair and solve this problem once and for all, for his and Liam's sake.

"See you at home, sweet heart," Draco calls over his shoulder as he back out of the alley and out into the daylight.

His heart is light and there is a huge smile on his face as he makes his way back to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and his Mum and son. All seemed to be right with the world in this moment. He had Astoria right where he wanted her, backed into a corner with no way out. He was hoping she'd just give in sooner rather than later, but if he knew one thing about Astoria it was that she didn't give up with out a fight.

Draco would worry about that later, right now he needed to help his son pick out a Pygmy Puff.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Enjoy!**

 **I own nothing Harry Potter!**

The weekend had passed in a blur for Hermione and now she found herself sitting at her desk in the Ministry of Magic with a mug full of coffee and sleepy eyes. She had barely gotten any sleep this weekend because everything she closed her eyes images of Draco and their kiss from Friday night took over her brain. If she let herself Hermione would be full on daydreaming about Draco Malfoy and she couldn't do that! He had a wife!

With a frustrated groan, she drops her head to her hands and tries to take a few calming breathes, hoping to calm her thoughts and her quickly racing desires.

"What's up Mione?" Ginny asks as she enters their office and flops down into her desk chair. Hermione doesn't see the entrance, but hears it. It's the same as every morning.

"I can't get Draco out of my head," Hermione groans into her arms, her words sounding muffled and garbled.

"What was that?" Ginny laughs as Hermione lifts her head from her arms, looking over at her best friend.

"I can't get Draco out of my head," Hermione repeats, brushing her hair back from her face with an annoyed huff.

"I don't see how that's a bad thing," Ginny smirks, leaning back in her desk chair and studying Hermione with green eyes. "That guy could fuel many a hot fantasy," she nods appreciatively and Hermione knows she's picturing Draco, which makes Hermione picture Draco, not a good thing.

Shaking images of the tall, blonde haired Adonis from her mind, Hermione shoots the red head a look, "He's married, Gin." Maybe if Hermione kept reminding herself that Draco was married she would stop having dirty thoughts about him. That had worked great for her so far, she'd ended up in bed with him and making out with him in the middle of his house where anyone could walk up and his Mum had. Hermione was never careless like this, but Draco was having an odd effect on her.

"So?" Ginny asks with a roll of her eyes, like the fact that Draco was married meant very little. They'd had this conversation before and Hermione didn't really feel like having it again. "You can look as long as you don't touch," the feisty red head shrugs her shoulder nonchalantly.

"Great idea, Gin," Hermione lets out a short high-pitched laugh. "Too bad looking only makes me want to touch that much more," Hermione drops her head to her hands with a sigh. Why in the world had she decided to become attracted to the one person she couldn't have? Shaking her head again, she pushes that question away because she already knows the answer. She was attracted to him because he was Draco Malfoy and whether she wanted to admit it or not, she'd been attracted to him since they were fifth years.

"What happened with Blaise this weekend?" Hermione asks Ginny before the redhead has a chance to delve into the subject of Draco anymore. Hermione needed to get her mind on something else and knew Ginny was bound to have had an amazing weekend with Blaise, the smirk on her lips proved it.

As Hermione listens on as Ginny tells her tale of her weekend with Blaise, Hermione tries to pay attention, but still finds her mind wandering the a certain blonde haired guy. Draco Malfoy was going to be the death of her.

* * *

It was only nine in the morning and to Draco it felt like he'd been at the office for hours. He'd just left a crack of dawn meeting on a case he was working on and was already mentally exhausted. Draco planned on stopping in to check on Blaise's progress on his whole marriage contract issue before getting back to work on the case. He would need to take a detour to visit the head Auror on the case who just happened to be Hermione Granger.

Draco was excited to see Hermione again, but knew he'd need to keep himself in line as much as he wanted to start something with her, he knew she deserved better than to be his mistress. He needed to get rid of Astoria first.

"Where have you been this morning?" Blaise asks, looking up from his desk with a smile as Draco walks into his office.

"Case meeting," Draco sighs, running a hand through his already disheveled hair and moving to collapse into one of the chairs in front of Blaise's desk. "Any progress?" he asks his friend, nodding his head towards the file on his desk. Draco knew Blaise had been devoting as much time as he could to Draco's case, more than willing to help his friend escape the clutches of his ice queen of a wife.

"Actually, yes," a smile spreads onto Blaise's lips, his dark face lighting up. "If Astoria doesn't cave to your ultimatum, I believe we can get you out of this without a problem," Blaise says as he turns the file on his desk to face Draco, pulling out a few documents and setting them in front of Draco.

"What do we have here?" Draco asks, excitement filling him as he picks up one of the papers, a picture showing Seth McCoy in the middle of a shady transaction. Another image is on the desk, this one a mug shot of Seth McCoy.

"Yesterday evening, an undercover op brought in Seth McCoy for dealing illegally obtained dragon's blood," Blaise smirks, sliding another image over to Draco. This image showed Astoria and Seth together, Draco takes it and studies the image showing his wife up close and personal with Seth McCoy. "This picture was taken fifteen minutes prior to Seth being busted. Even if Astoria isn't involved, this sure makes it look like she is. Anybody in their right mind would grant you custody of Liam and let you out of this marriage," Blaise explains, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms behind his head, looking rightfully proud of himself.

"This is exactly what we need," Draco breathes, studying the pictures still, hope filling his body. Maybe, just maybe, everything would work out as planned. "Who is the Auror heading this investigation?" Draco asks, setting the images aside and turning his attention to Blaise. Draco would love to talk to the Auror and see what was going on with this case.

"Ron Weasley," Blaise answers with a smirk on his lips, dark eyes sparkling.

"Of course," Draco lets out a laugh as Blaise's answer sinks in. Of course Ron Weasley was handling the McCoy case, it only made sense that Ron was going to be the one to help Draco get out of his marriage to Astoria so that Draco could pursue Ron's ex-wife. Draco laughed to himself, shaking his head at the irony of the situation. "I guess I'll have to pay Weasley a little visit," he laughs.

"It is kind of ironic, isn't it?" Blaise laughs, shaking his head as well.

"Oh, it definitely is, but how else would this play out," Draco laughs as he stands from the chair. "Thanks, man. I owe you big time," Draco nods at his friend.

"If this all works out you owe me drinks," Blaise laughs he gathers the file back up and tucks it into his desk drawer.

"If this all works out, I owe you a whole hell of a lot more than drinks," Draco tells his friend as he heads towards the door. He needs to stop by his office before heading to the Auror floor to visit both Hermione and Ron.

Draco couldn't believe how things were starting to unfold themselves. For the first time in years, Draco was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. If he could get find his way out of this marriage with Astoria without Liam getting caught in the crosshairs, he would have everything he wanted. By the end of the week he would know for sure how this was going to play out. Either Astoria would back down and let Draco go free or she would complicate things more and Draco would be forced to play every card in his hand. Maybe giving Astoria a glance of what he was holding close to his chest would give her the motivation to accept his offer and walk away with pride intact. Draco wanted to get all the details from Weasley before he did anything drastic, but hopefully by the end of the work day today he would have another trump card in his hand.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

Hermione is sitting at her desk, lost in the files of her latest case about a rogue wizard when there is a knock on the door.

"What can we do for you Mr. Malfoy?" Ginny asks before Hermione has a chance to look up from her file to Draco standing in the doorway. Hermione's mouth goes dry at the figure standing there with his white button down with sleeves rolled up to his elbows revealing strong forearms. His blonde hair is disheveled and Hermione wants to run her fingers through it. Draco's grey eyes are on her sending a wave of sparks through Hermione.

"I'm here to talk to Hermione," Draco answers Ginny, but never tears his eyes from Hermione.

"Here to ask her to lunch again?" Ginny teases as Hermione's body heats at the thoughts running through her mind.

 _Get ahold of yourself, Hermione,_ Hermione mentally yells at herself, shaking her thoughts of Draco's body from her mind as he answers Ginny's question. "If she wants to go to lunch I'm more than happy to take her," Draco answers, stepping into the office and walking over to the chair in front of her desk.

"No," Hermione shakes her head, hair flying as her pulse races. "We can't go to lunch Draco. You're married and we need to keep our distance," she answers, trying to shove away the feelings his grey gaze is stirring in her. Lunch would only lead to trouble. Any time spent with Draco was bound to lead to trouble. Hermione couldn't seem to control herself around Draco and she didn't like it one bit.

"We're friends, Hermione. Just because I'm married doesn't mean friends can't have lunch together," Draco answers, a teasing smile on his lips as he sits in the chair across from her. The sparkling in his eyes tells Hermione he's enjoying her denial, damn him!

"Since when have we been friends?" Hermione asks, lifting her hair off her suddenly burning hot neck. Even as she asked the question, Hermione knew that she and Draco had become friends in the last few days and she couldn't deny it, but she needed to keep her distance because she knew a friendship wasn't going to last very long before one of them crossed the line. They were toeing it right now.

Draco shrugs as he moves his to rest on his knee, "I consider us friends."

"Draco…" Hermione sighs, not sure what she's going to say, but knowing she needs to say something before their relationship escalates even farther.

"Don't, Hermione," Draco holds up his hand to stop her, a small smile on his lips. That sexy little smile makes Hermione want to dive across the desk at Draco, but he continues and her thoughts focus. "I'm here for work, not personal, but I'd be more than happy to take you to lunch when we're done if you would like," Draco explains, shifting in his seat to uncross his legs and lean forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

"I…" Hermione starts, feeling like a fool for jumping to conclusions. Of course Draco was here for work and she'd gone and jumped to conclusions. _Get yourself together, Hermione!_ She curses herself. "What can I help you with?" Hermione asks after a beat, switching into professional mode and trying to calm her racing heart. A glance to her right tells her Ginny is immersed in her files, giving them privacy.

"I'm working on the Master's case and had a few questions I thought you may be able to answer," Draco explains, a small little smirk on his pink lips.

"Right, the Master's case," Hermione nods, trying to buy a few seconds of gather her wits. "I'd heard you'd been assigned to that," she lets out a deep breath, pushing away her veering thoughts. It was time to work.

"Would you like to grab coffee or lunch and go over it?" Draco asks, grey eyes glinting as he leans back in his chair and studies Hermione. So much for trying to control her thoughts, one little smirk from Draco and Hermione is ready to fall into him and give into her desires. Damn, Draco Malfoy and his sexy good looks!

"Draco," Hermione sighs, sending the blonde a pointed look, warning him.

"Can't blame a guy for trying," Draco lets our a laugh that rumbles through Hermione's system, heating her insides along the way.

With a roll of her eyes, Hermione tries to get back on topic, "What did you want to know?"

Both Hermione and Draco fall into professional mode, going over the details of the Master's case and sharing opinions and possible ways to handle the situation. While they are lost in their work, Ginny slips out of the room, leaving the two alone. Hermione doesn't notice her redheaded friend's exit until she has answered all of Draco's questions and she comes up for air.

"Thanks for your help, Hermione," Draco smiles at her as he stands from the desk chair he's sitting in and stretches his long limbs above his head. Hermione can't help her eyes from scanning the way his white button down stretches against his chest at the movement, a chest she would give anything to lay her hands on right now. _Control yourself, Hermione!_

Now that they were done with questions on the case, Hermione's mind was back in the gutter, wandering what it would be like if Draco was single and there were no lines to worry about crossing.

Shoving those thoughts from her mind, Hermione stands from her chair as well, unsure what she should do. She doesn't want Draco to leave just yet, disappointment had settled in her when she realized their time together was almost over. She shouldn't want to spend more time with him since when they were together she was constantly tempted, but she did. She wanted to spend the whole day with Draco, just the two of them getting up to no good.

 _Damn it, Hermione!_ She inwardly curses again before turning to Draco and sending him a small hesitant smile, "You're welcome. If you have anymore questions, just let me know." Now is the time where Draco should nod, leave the office and let Hermione daydream about what could have happened, but he doesn't do that.

Instead of making his way to the door, Draco asks, "Will you let me take you to lunch to show my appreciation for your help?" he asks, grey eyes hopeful.

YES! Hermione's mind screamed. Yes she wanted to go to lunch with Draco, but she couldn't. "Draco…" Hermione sighs for what feels like the tenth time today. The word conveys exactly what she's feeling, it tells him she wants to go but something is holding her back and that something is Astoria.

Instead of trying to convince her immediately like Hermione had expected, Draco pulls his wand from his pocket, aiming it at the door and silently closing and locking it before moving around the desk to stand in front of Hermione.

Heart racing in her chest and body tingling with what might be to come, Hermione takes a step back, her hips hitting the desk, one more step forward and Draco will have her trapped. The thought shoots a wave of desire through Hermione.

"Hermione, I am capable of having lunch with you in public and keeping my hands off of you. I understand keeping appearance more than almost anyone. We can have lunch as colleagues and no one will think anything different," Draco explains, his warm breath fanning over Hermione's face as he comes to stop a few inches from her. The tension between them is palpable and Hermione wants to close the distance between them and feel Draco's warm lips on hers again.

"It's not you I'm worried about," Hermione manages to get out, her mouth dry and chest tight with desire. She was sure Draco could control himself in public, but she was starting to doubt that she would be able to. All she wanted to do was pull Draco close and pick up where they'd been interrupted in Malfoy Manor on Friday night. Hermione knew damn well that if Narcissa hadn't walked in and her daughter hadn't been in the other room she and Draco would have ended up in bed together again and this time they would be doing much more than sleeping.

 _Astoria, Astoria, Astoria…_ Hermione chants in her mind, trying to use the thought of Draco's wife to deter her thoughts. It wasn't working at all.

"Afraid you can't keep your hands off me," Draco teases with a raised brow as he takes a step closer, closing the distance between them and trapping Hermione against her desk. Her stomach clenches with desire as she feels Draco's warm body pressing against hers.

Automatically her arms move to loop around his neck as she looks up at him with big brown doe eyes. There is definitely no holding back her desires with Draco this close.

"Exactly," she breathes as she pushes all thought but Draco from her mind. There was no point in fighting her attraction in this moment, she would deal with the consequences later.

Her fingers start to tease the short hairs at the nape of Draco's neck, pulling a soft sigh from him as his stormy eyes darken. "Fuck, Hermione, you make it so bloody hard to resist you," Draco groans, his voice low and rumbling as it shoots through Hermione's blood stream, awakening her desires farther.

Without another word, Draco's lips crash down on Hermione's in a heated kiss, a kiss they'd both been craving for days. Hermione melts into Draco's touch, letting him lift her up onto her desk and step in closer as his mouth dueled with hers. Wrapping her legs around Draco's trim waist, his hardened member connects with Hermione's needy core pulling a throaty moan from her.

Hermione's body is on fire, inside and out, as Draco's tongue battles hers and his long fingers travel over the bare skin of her thigh, shooting sparks to her heated core and driving her desires higher.

As Draco's lips move to trail over the expanse of Hermione's neck and his fingers brush over her lacy underwear she lets out another moan, pleasure shooting through her body. Oh how badly she wanted this…

 _Astoria, Astoria, Astoria…_ Hermione's inward chant breaks through the fog Draco's touch has her in. She couldn't do this, no matter how badly she wanted it.

"Wait," the word comes out breathy as Hermione sets her hands on Draco's strong chest, not wanting to push him back, but knowing she needed to. He was married.

No matter how many times Hermione told herself that, she still couldn't get it to stay in the forefront of her mind. She wanted Draco too much to care, but rationality was kicking back in. "We can't do this," she says, her voice stronger as Draco's fingers play with the edge of her panties. Her core is pulsing, begging to be touched, but they can't cross that line. Hermione can't let that happen.

"You want me to stop?" Draco asks in a husky, desire filled voice as he pulls his lips from her neck and meets her brown eyes with his stormy ones. Desire is clearly written in his face, he wants this as badly as Hermione does.

"No, but we need to," Hermione breathes, needing to put distance between them, but unable to get her jello like body to move from the desk.

"You don't want me to finish what I'm starting?" he asks, long fingers moving to flick over her clit, sending a strong wave of pleasure through Hermione, her eyes sliding closed as her mind hazes over again.

Draco's finger continues to move against Hermione in slow building circles, making it harder and harder to deny herself of what she wants most, the release Draco is driving her towards. "Draco…" Hermione says his name on a strangled moan. She doesn't want him to stop, but she needs him to. "We can't…" she tries to get the words to come out with resolve but fails miserably. She doesn't want Draco to stop. Actually if he does stop she has a feeling she may spontaneously combust from need.

"I'll finish you off and then we'll stop," Draco says simply, leaning forward and placing a quick heated kiss to her lips as his fingers rub faster against her core.

"Mmkay," Hermione manages to get out, resolve crumbling as she lets the pleasure racing through her take over and block out all rational thought. She wanted this and she was going to have it.

Eyes sliding closed in pleasure, Hermione can't focus on anything but Draco's touch. Hermione lets out a gasp when in one swift move, Draco rips her panties from her, dropping them to the floor before lowering himself to his knees and repositioning her hips on the desk. A long moan is pulled from her as Draco's warm, wet mouth meets her pulsing core, his tongue moving relentlessly against her folds.

Hermione is lost in the pleasure as Draco pulls her closer and closer to that edge. Draco is the first guy in years to eat her out and she'd forgotten how amazing it felt. Within seconds Hermione is falling over that edge, surrendering herself to Draco and his skilled mouth, fireworks playing behind her closed eyes.

A cry is pulled from her and her muscles tense as she reaches her orgasm, riding the pleasurable waves before coming back to reality.

When the world comes into focus again, Hermione sees Draco standing back up, a smirk on his pink kissed lips. The lips that had just brought unimaginable pleasure to Hermione.

"You taste amazing," Draco breathes as his pink tongue flicks out and licks his glistening lips. "We'll be doing that again sometime," Draco says confidently as he wipes of his knees and straightens his shirt, eyes on Hermione the whole time.

"You're married," Hermione manages to get out, rationality coming back. Why did she let that just happen? Because she couldn't seem to resist Draco. _Bloody hell I'm in trouble,_ she mentally groans. She'd just let Draco Malfoy bring her pleasure no man had ever brought her before, not Ron, not Vicktor, not anyone before Draco.

"Not for long," Draco smiles as Hermione slides off of her desk and straightens her clothes. Looking down at her red lacy panties on the floor she sees they are nothing more than a scrap, it looked liked she'd be going without for the rest of the day thanks to Draco.

"That doesn't mean I didn't just help you cheat on your wife," Hermione groans, raking a hand through her tangled hair. She knew she should feel guilty right about now, but no matter how much she tried to bring the feeling about she couldn't. She'd seen how Astoria had treated Draco and she couldn't find any sympathy within her for the woman. That didn't mean she would be hooking up with Draco again before he was divorced though.

"I promise you, I will do whatever I can to get this marriage dissolved as soon as possible. Once I do, we are going to finish what we started right here," Draco answers, eyes serious as he takes a step forward and reaches out to brush Hermione's curls from her face. "I need to know what is between us," his voice comes out in nothing more than a whisper. Seeing the vulnerable, caring side of Draco was new for Hermione, but it made her attraction grow even more. Draco Malfoy was a man of man layers and Hermione wanted to know them all.

"Until then, you need to keep your distance," Hermione says, not showing the way his words affected her, as she puts her hands on his solid chest making sure he kept his distance.

"I'll try my best, but I can't make any promises, Hermione," Draco breathes, grabbing hold of her waist and leaning in to press a soft kiss to her lips. "You're irresistible," he sends her a teasing wink as he steps back.

"You need to go," Hermione takes a step back, folding her arms over her chest to stop herself from reaching out and pulling him closer again. It should be awkward right now after Draco had gone down on her, but it wasn't, not at all.

Draco nods, running a hand through his hair, giving in. "I'll see you around, babe," he sends her one last wink before pulling out his wand and unlocking the door and leaving her office.

Hermione stands where she is, staring after Draco for minutes after he's gone, her mind replaying the last few minutes in her mind. With a sigh she moves back to her desk chair and flops into it, suddenly exhausted. "What the hell just happened?" she muses as she drops her head to her hands again. She'd just broken everyone of the rules she'd set forth when it came to Draco, but she couldn't manage to bring up a feeling of regret. All she wanted was to continue where they'd just left off.

Draco Malfoy was like a drug and Hermione was addicted. Hermione was going to control herself until Astoria was out of the picture, but after that she could make no promises. Draco Malfoy was who she wanted and why should she deny herself the pleasure?

 **Thanks for reading!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Here's the next chapter. I won't get a chance to post for a few days, but I do have the next chapter planned out and will get it up as soon as I can, hopefully on Monday. Enjoy!**

 **I own nothing Harry Potter!**

After leaving Hermione's office Draco took a detour to the washrooms, needing to clear his mind of everything that had just happened before he went to see Ron. It would be very awkward if Draco was thinking about going down on Ron's ex-wife the whole time they were talking about Draco's current wife. The whole situation was fucked up as is, Draco didn't need to complicate it more by giving Ron any insight into what had just gone down between him and Hermione.

It was hard to get Hermione and the look on her face as she climaxed out of his head, but Draco made it happen. Thinking about Astoria and her bitchiness was enough to kill any desire for Hermione that had been stirring under the surface. Draco knew he needed to focus on the problem at hand because once that was solved her could have Hermione or at least pursue a relationship with her.

Slashing some water on his face and running a hand through his hair, Draco took a look in the mirror and gathered his thoughts. It was time to focus on Ron and what he had on Seth McCoy that could incriminate Astoria.

Taking a deep breath, Draco pushes out of the washroom and heads back down the hall passed Hermione's office, refusing to look that way knowing if he did he'd end up locked in the room with Hermione again while he gave in to his desires. Walking to the office towards the end of the hall, Draco checks the name plaque to make sure he's in the right location before knocking.

"Come in," Ron's voice comes from the other side of the closed door.

Steeling himself for his conversation with Ron about Astoria and Seth, Draco opens the door and enters the office that is almost identical to Hermione and Ginny's. There are two desks in the room, one sits empty at the left side of the room, the occupant probably out in the field, and Ron sits at the one on the right. Curious blue eyes meet Draco as he enters the office and closes the door behind him.

"Draco, I didn't expect to see you," Ron says as he leans back in his desk chair, arms folded behind his head. The redhead had changed a lot over the years since Hogwarts, Draco was realizing. He looked the same, just older, but his temperament was calmer than it had been. Draco had noticed that the other day at Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Ron seemed to have matured and he seemed to be happy.

"I can't say the same, Ron," Draco shrugs as he makes his way over to the open desk chair across from Ron's desk. "I have a few questions for you."

"About Hermione?" Ron asks, brow arched and a knowing smirk on his lips. Apparently word had gotten around that Draco had been spending some time with Hermione. He assumed Grace had told her father about their visit to Malfoy Manor.

"No, not about Hermione," Draco answers, mind flicking back to his encounter with the feisty brunette just moments before. Hermione's sweet taste was still on his tongue. Draco tries to stop the smile from forming on his lips, Ron really doesn't need to know the thoughts Draco had about his ex-wife that would only complicate matters farther.

"For what it's worth, if you make her happy I'm not going to stand in your way," Ron's words surprise Draco as he moves his hands from behind his head to fold them on his desk. If someone had told Draco a few years ago that the hot headed Weasley who hated his guts would be giving him permission to be with his ex-wife, Draco would have thought the person was crazy. It was funny how things changed.

"But if you hurt her, you will have to answer to me," Ron adds, turning serious as his light blue eyes bore into Draco in warning.

"I don't plan on hurting her," Draco holds up his hands in surrender. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Hermione.

"Okay," Ron gives one simple nod before asking, "What can I help you with, Malfoy?"

"Blaise tells me you were involved with the take down of Seth McCoy over the weekend," Draco answers, getting back on track and down to business. He was here to figure out what Ron had on his wife. He wasn't here to get Ron's permission to go after Hermione.

"Ahh, yes," Ron nods slowly, leaning back in his chair again. "The was exciting," there's a small smirk on Ron's lips as he seems to reminisce his weekend fun. "What do you want to know?" he asks as he comes out of his reverie.

"What went down?" Draco asks, folding his hand and place them on his lap in front of her, leaning forward slightly as he waited anxiously to hear what Ron had to say.

"I got the owl yesterday afternoon saying the deal was going down. When I got there, Seth was dealing illegal dragons blood to one of our undercover agents. He's sitting in custody now, awaiting his hearing, but he won't be getting off very easily. We searched his offices this morning and turned up all kinds of illegal materials. Seth McCoy will be out of the business for a while," Ron answers, filling Draco in on the details of the bust.

Draco just nods for a second, digesting the information. Seth McCoy was the scum that Draco and Blaise had assumed he was, now the only question was, could Astoria be tied to him? "Was anyone else implicated in the dealings?" Draco asks, unsure whether he wanted Ron to say Astoria was involved or not. Yes, he wanted to stick it to her and hold the final nail in her coffin in his hand, but she was also his wife and even though he had never really loved her, at one time he had cared for her. Yes, he thought she was a cold hearted bitch, but she was also the mother of his son and that meant something even if she didn't seem to give a damn about Liam.

"Did you have someone in mind?" Ron asks, leaning forward to rest his arms on his desk as his blue eyes study Draco.

Draco lets out a sigh, running his hand over his face before sitting back and admitting, "Astoria has been spending a lot of time with Seth lately."

"Do you want Seth out of the way so you can have your wife back or do you want your wife to be implicated so you can stick it to her?" Ron asks, his questions much more insightful than Draco would have ever given him credit for. If Draco was being honest, he liked this new version of Ron, he actually found him entertaining. Who would have thought that would ever happen?

Draco lets out another sigh with a shake of his head, not believing he was about to admit this to Ron Weasley of all people. "The latter," he answers with a shrug, having the decency to feel sheepish. Yes, he was hoping Astoria was involved so he could get out of their sham of a marriage and pursue Ron's ex-wife. Oh how complicated this situation was.

"Then yes, I do think we have enough of a connection between the two to implicate her. Do you want her to be implicated?" Ron asks with a raised brow.

"No, not exactly," Draco finds himself admitting as he runs a hand through his hair. "I don't want her to end up in prison or anything, but I want out of this marriage." Where had that come from? He'd just admitted his inner feelings to Ron. Things had definitely changed.

"So you can go after my ex-wife?" Ron asks, his perceptiveness surprising Draco again.

"Yes," Draco nods, not backing down. There was no point in keeping it a secret or lying to Ron, his intentions would become clear soon enough and he might as well face this hurdle now.

"I'm not going to stand in your way, Malfoy. Like I said earlier, if you make Hermione happy I'm not going to interfere," Ron assures as he leans back in his seat. "My daughter and ex-wife both seem to like you, I can't imagine why," he adds with a joking roll of his eyes.

"Thank you," Draco finds himself saying, surprised at how easily this conversation with Ron was going. It was official, they were both adults and over their childhood squabbling.

"Now back to Astoria," Ron changes the subject. "We don't plan on pursuing her at this time, do you have any reason we should?" Ron asks, waiting patiently for Draco's answer.

Draco stares up at the ceiling for a second as his mind races a mile a minute with thoughts of Astoria and Hermione and the complicated mess that was currently his life. "No, I can't think of any reason, but I'll let you know if something comes to light," Draco answers after a second. He was going to hope that his threat was enough to get Astoria to come to her senses and give him what he wanted, but if she didn't he would have to resort to taking action and Ron had just given him the perfect opportunity to do that. Tonight, Draco had every intention of laying it all out for Astoria, showing her the best option was for her to pack her bags and leave before he brought her dirty little secrets to light.

"Okay, I'll let you know if anything else comes up with the case," Ron nods, their conversation drawing to an end.

"Thank you, for everything, Weasley," Draco nods as he stands from the chair and heads to the door.

"Anytime, Malfoy," Ron says as Draco slips out of the office, the irony of the whole situation isn't lost on Draco.

As he makes his way back to his office, he runs over everything from the last hour in his mind. Ron had given him the answers he needed to ensure his marriage with Astoria was about to end. The quicker that happened the better because after this afternoon in Hermione's office, Draco wasn't so sure how long he could resist the incredible pull he felt towards the sexy brunette.

 **Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Thanks for reading!**

 **I own nothing Harry Potter!**

Hermione pushes back from her desk at about five o'clock on Monday evening, unable to work any longer. She'd found it impossible to concentrate since her little rendezvous with Draco this morning. The feeling of his lips on her and the image of his head buried between her legs had been too much for her overactive imagination. Every time her mind flicked back to those moments, she felt a rush of heat to her core. Needless to say by the end of the work day, Hermione was dying for Draco to return and finish what they'd started earlier. Hermione was turned on beyond belief and didn't know how she was going to fix it.

There was no way she could turn to Draco tonight, he was still married and even though she'd strayed from her principles earlier today didn't mean she was giving them up all together. She needed to keep her distance from Draco until he had this whole thing with Astoria sorted out. That didn't help her raging desire any, but she'd have to deal with it.

"What's wrong, Mione?" Ginny asks, turning from her files when Hermione lets out a loud sigh.

"I need a strong drink, what are you doing tonight?" Hermione asks as she stands from her desk chair and stretches her arms out before righting her clothing, all too aware of her lack of panties. Another wave of desire shoots through her. Damn Draco Malfoy!

"I was going to get drinks with Blaise, but I'm sure you could join us," Ginny answers as she stands from her desk as well, closing her files and putting them in order.

"I don't want to intrude," Hermione answers, brushing her hair back from her heated neck.

"You won't me," Ginny waves off Hermione's concern. "Mum has Grace tonight, right?" the redhead asks.

"She does," Hermione nods. Molly had wanted a night with her granddaughter and would have Grace all night, giving Hermione a whole night to herself. A whole night she didn't want to spend alone at home. If she was alone she was likely to think about Draco all night. She was also likely to drop in on him when her desire got to unbearable heights. That could not happen.

"Are you going to tell me what went down between you and Draco this morning?" Ginny asks. Ever since she'd returned to their shared office after giving Hermione and Draco some alone time, Ginny had been asking what had happened. The look on Hermione's face made it clear that something indeed had gone down, but Hermione had avoided the topic so far.

"Get a few drinks in me and maybe I'll spill," Hermione lets out a small laugh as she yanks her fingers through her tangled hair. She wanted Ginny's opinion on what had happened, but she had a feeling her friend would tell her to forget about Astoria and go after Draco and that couldn't happen.

"So you're not going to deny that anything happened anymore?" Ginny asks with a teasing glint in her eye as she packs up her bag, getting ready to hit the pub.

"No," Hermione answers with a sigh, gathering her things as well. She needed to get out of this office building now before she went searching for the tall blonde she was lusting after. Something told her he was still in the building.

"Come on, let's go find Blaise and get you drunk," Ginny winks as she walks passed Hermione towards the door. It was very unlike Hermione to drink on a Monday night, but she needed it tonight.

Hermione follows Ginny to the floor Blaise works on, her stomach flipping when she realizes it's the same floor Draco's office is. Part of her wants to run into him, part of her wants to flee the building and put as much distance as possible between them. She does the former, letting Ginny lead the way to Blaise's office on a floor that looks very similar to the Auror's offices.

"Ready to get a drink?" Ginny asks as she pops into the open door of Blaise's office, Hermione following behind her.

"Hey, babe," Blaise's rich voice sounds before Hermione sees him.

"Oh, hey, Draco," Ginny's words have Hermione stopping in her tracks in the doorway. Draco. That meant he was in Blaise's office and there was no way Hermione was going to avoid seeing him.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione steps into the office, eyes immediately locking with Draco's grey ones. Stomach flipping deliciously at the memories of earlier, Hermione pushes down the nervousness running through her and holds Draco's heated gaze.

"Hermione's going to join us," Ginny informs Blaise, the pair oblivious to the heated look passing between Draco and Hermione.

"If that's not a problem," Hermione snaps out of her trance and turns back to her polite self.

"Not at all," Blaise waves off her concern just like Ginny had. "Want to join us, Drake?" Blaise asks, dark eyes flicking over to his pale friend.

 _YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! Say yes, Draco!_ Hermione is inwardly screaming while another part of her is telling him to say no, telling him to head home to his wife and son.

"As much as I want to, I can't," Draco answers Blaise, eyes never leaving Hermione's face. "I need to go talk to Astoria," he adds, something sinks in Hermione's chest. Hearing Draco mention Astoria made her presence more real to Hermione somehow. So far Draco had seemed to avoid talking about his wife around Hermione unless she brought her up.

 _Get a grip, Hermione! Draco has a wife and you know it, so stop dreaming he'll walk over and kiss you senseless while Ginny and Blaise watch on. It's not going to happen!_ Knowing it's not going to happen and not wanting it to happen are two totally different things and no matter how much Hermione tries, she can't kill that desire within her.

"Did you find any dirt on her?" Ginny asks, pulling Hermione's mind away from fantasies of Draco. She wanted to know the answer to this question. She needed to know if Draco was making any progress in getting rid of Astoria, for purely selfish purposes of course. _Nothing says he'll come to you when Astoria is out of the picture_ , a small niggling voice says in the back of Hermione's mind. She'd already been burned more times than she could count in relationships, but she had a feeling that wasn't going to happen with Draco. At least that's what she was hoping.

"We did actually, hopefully I get solve this problem once and for all tonight," Draco answers with a smile. His eyes are still on Hermione's and the look he's sending her has her heart flipping in her chest. It says that if he does succeed she needed to be ready because there would be nothing to hold him back. The thought both scared and excited Hermione.

"If you do, you know where to find us," Blaise says, clapping Draco on the back as he walks around his desk to move over and place a quick kiss on Ginny's lips. When had that happened? Ginny had always sworn she wouldn't get involved in a relationship. From an outsider's point of view, it sure as hell looked like she was involved in a relationship with Blaise. A real relationship.

"I may just take you up on that offer," Draco shoots Blaise a smirk before his eyes meet Hermione's again. "I'll see you around?" he asks with a raised brow, eyes searching hers.

"Yeah," is all Hermione can manage to get out of her suddenly parched throat. She watches as Draco walk passed all of them and out of the office, presumably to go talk to his wife. Hermione wished him the best.

"What the bloody hell is going on between you two?" Ginny turns on Hermione as soon as Draco is out of hearing range.

"I really don't know," Hermione answers with a shake of her head as her cheeks heat. She really didn't know what was going on with her and Draco, she just knew what she wanted to be happening. Her desires involved a lot of alone time with Draco Malfoy and a lack of clothing. She needed a drink more than ever tonight to get those images out of her mind because if she wasn't careful they would drive her insane.

"Let's go get a drink," Blaise's voice comes to Hermione's rescue, stopping her from the inquisition she could tell Ginny was ready to give her. Maybe after a drink or two she'd spill her guts to her best friend, but right now she wasn't in the mood to kiss and tell. Reliving this morning in her office with Draco might be more than her already heated body could take.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Thank you for reading!**

 **I own nothing Harry Potter!**

Seeing Hermione flustered by his presence and knowing she was going to be at the pub with Blaise and Ginny this evening made Draco want to get home and solve things with Astoria even quicker. He wanted to get this over with tonight in time for him to head Hermione off at the pub and take her home. He knew that he was dreaming when he thought things would go that smoothly, but it was a nice fantasy.

"Daddy! You're home!" Liam squeals as he comes running across the foyer to meet Draco.

"Hey, buddy, how are you today?" Draco can't help but smile at his son as he crouches to ruffle his bright blonde hair. It was times like these that Draco appreciated his son the most, times when he was conflicted and confused. All it took was seeing his son happy for all of the drama in Draco's life to take a back burner. Liam was Draco's life and he was willing to do anything for him, that's why he needed to figure this whole thing with Astoria out. He didn't need Liam getting hurt anymore by Astoria's ignorance.

"I'm great," Liam smiles. "I've been playing with Pepper all day," the little boy exclaims, talking about his new purple Pygmy Puff.

"I bet that was fun," Draco smiles, his heart warming as he studies his son's happy face.

"It was," Liam nods rapidly, eyes wide.

"Do you know where your Mum is?" Draco asks as he straightens back up, looking down at Liam.

"Upstairs," the little boy answers, his tiny features turning into a frown. "She's being extra mean today, Daddy," Liam says in a small voice, not quite a whine but close. "Why doesn't she like me?" Liam turns big tear filled eyes to Draco.

Draco lets out a sigh, his heart breaking at his son's pain. "Your Mum doesn't have her priorities straight," Draco answers crouching back down to Liam's level and holding out a hand to him. His son puts his small hand in Draco's and lets his dad pull him close. "I promise you I'll fix this," Draco assures as he pulls Liam into a hug. He's not sure how he's going to fix it. Draco didn't know if ending his marriage with Astoria would help or hurt Liam. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Liam, but ending this marriage was what was best for all of them.

"Okay, Daddy," Liam nods into Draco's chest. He can tell the little boy is ready to cry, but he doesn't.

Draco scoops Liam into his arms and stands up, heading into the depths of the house. "C'mon, why don't we see if Grandmum wants to make some cookies for you," Draco says, trying to cheer Liam up while coming up with a way to keep him from hearing what's about to go down between his parents.

"Cookies!" Liam squeals in Draco's arms, looking around excitedly, the pain his Mum had caused him gone for now.

"Did someone say cookies?" Narcissa asks as she steps out of the kitchen to meet Draco and Liam in the sitting room.

"Daddy said you'd help me make cookies," Liam answers excitedly, wiggling to get out of Draco's arms.

"Would you mind, Mum?" Draco asks as he sets Liam on the floor. "I need to talk to Astoria," he adds as Liam runs off towards the kitchen in excitement.

"Of course," Narcissa sends Draco a warm smile. "I'll keep him contained down here while you handle your wife," she nods before heading off towards the kitchen to join Liam. "Good luck," she stops when she gets to the door and sends Draco a reassuring smile.

It was now or never, time to confront Astoria.

Taking a deep breath and steeling himself for the screaming match that was sure to come from this, Draco rakes a hand through his hair and starts towards the steps leading to the second floor.

When Draco reaches Astoria's room, the room they once shared, he hesitates once more knowing a blow up is to come after Draco says what he needs to say. With a cursory knock on the door, Draco enters before Astoria has a chance to speak.

"What do you want?" Astoria asks, her voice more of a snarl. She is sitting on the couch in the front part of the room, her legs drawn up underneath her and her blonde hair falling around her shoulders. There is a coldness in her eyes that has slowly taken hold of her heart over the years. For a second Draco catches a glimpse of the woman he married, the young, naïve, hopeful woman that has long since disappeared within Astoria's cold shell.

Once upon a time Draco had been relatively happy married to Astoria, but then Liam had come and Astoria had become more self-centered than ever, wanting the attention their son was getting for herself. That's when everything had started to fall apart. Astoria had had her mid life crisis and Draco had been unable to handle her ridiculousness and chose to focus on their son.

And now here they were, still married, but hating each other's guts. Something needed to change and Draco was ready to make it happen.

"Hello to you too, sweetheart," Draco rolls his eyes as he moves to sit in the arm chair across from the couch. "Have you thought any about what I said the other day?" he asks, crossing his legs and leaning back against the stiff chair, studying Astoria for her reaction.

"About the divorce?" Astoria asks, arching a thin eyebrow, cold eyes unwavering as they glared at Draco.

"Yes," Draco nods, nervous butterflies flying around his stomach. He just wants this relationship with Astoria to be over with as little as drama as possible. The problem with that was drama seemed to follow Astoria anywhere she went.

"It's not going to happen, Draco. I own you and there is nothing that is going to change that," Astoria's voice is like a whip, quick and clear as the words cut through the air.

"That's where you're wrong, sweetheart. I own you and I want out," Draco answers, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He was not going to let his temper get the better of him. A screaming match with Astoria was the last thing he wanted, by now he knew he needed to remain calm and collected to get anywhere with his wife.

"You seem to think you own me, Draco, but last time I checked I'm the one who saved your ass and your bloody family name from destruction all those years ago," Astoria's voice is haughty as she stands from the couch to pace around the room, eyes cutting back to Draco with every few steps.

"You're right, you did, Astoria," Draco agrees, stroking her ego. "But I've long since paid my debts to you and I've found a way out of this bloody contract between us," he says as he remains seated watching the small blonde pace the floor. He knew if he stood he would be towering over his wife and she would be much more likely to go on the defensive. No, it was better to stay seated and give her the impression that she had the power, but she didn't, not at ll.

"You're bluffing," Astoria comes to a stop in front of him, hands on her his and a haughty look on her face as she shoots a glare his way. So that's how Astoria wanted to play this, she still thought Draco was all talk and no action, even after he'd brought up Seth McCoy the other day. She still didn't believe he was serious or had any change in hell of getting out of this. Good, let her keep thinking that, that was another card in his hand.

"Let's say I am bluffing," Draco mused, meeting his wife's cold gaze. "If you're as miserable as I believe you are in this relationship, why stay together and keep up this bloody act?" he poses the question wanting to understand her ulterior motives. Draco knew he wasn't the only one unhappy in this marriage, so why was Astoria insisting they stay together? It didn't make sense.

A look of vulnerability washes over Astoria's face before her usual steely look takes over. "Appearances," she answers, her voice hard, lacking any emotion.

Draco runs a hand through his hair, letting out a sigh. That is exactly the reason he suspected Astoria had been keeping up this charade so long. "Appearances mean more to you, Astoria, than your own happiness, let alone mine and Liam's?" Draco asks, hoping his question would stir Astoria's thoughts and make her think about what she was doing.

"Appearances mean everything, Draco. You should know that by now," Astoria answers with a roll of her icy eyes, hands on her hips and chin jutted in the air defiantly. What had ever happened to the nice girl he had married? Yes, Astoria had never been an innocent little angel, but she hadn't been a raging cold hearted bitch either.

"When you married me I don't think it was for just appearances, Astoria," Draco counters, eyes studying her. When they'd married, Astoria had been starry eyed for Draco, he had been the one with the lack of love deciding she was an acceptable wife if it meant saving his family from ruin. Over the years they had switched positions and as much as he didn't want to admit it the change started with Liam. When Liam was born, Draco started seeing the good that Astoria had brought him and Astoria had started seeing Draco as the one who had ruined her life. Draco would admit he wasn't blameless in all of this, but he had tried his best to be a good husband and he'd grown to love his wife even if it wasn't the soul mates kind of love.

"You're right, Draco, I didn't marry you just for appearances, that was your MO," she answers, voice rising as her temper started to come out. "But a woman can only take so much of a husband who has no desire to be with her. Now you want me to let you out of this marriage just like that? I don't think so," she spits, fury stirring on her face.

This is what Draco had expected, Astoria would fight until the bitter end to save her appearance at this point in her life. "But why force yourself to keep up an unhappy marriage when neither of us want it. Why not let yourself be happy again? Are you really that bitter, Astoria, that you want me to be unhappy more than you want yourself to be happy?" Draco asks, keeping his clam, knowing that would piss Astoria off more. Lately she was never rational and Draco hoped to use that to his advantage. After years of living with her, Draco knew what buttons to push to make her tick.

"I'm not going to let you go free so you can go parade your whore around in public, thumbing your nose at me," Astoria snaps.

Astoria knew what buttons of Draco's to push as well. Hearing Astoria refer to Hermione as his whore lit a fire deep within him, one that usually fueled his temper, but Draco pushed it down refusing to rise to the bait. He'd have the last laugh when he got out of this relationship.

Ignoring Astoria's comment, Draco goes with a different tactic. "I hear Seth McCoy was busted by the Ministry last night. It looks like your lover may be out of commission for a while," Draco lays it out there, watching for Astoria's reaction.

Fury fills Astoria's face before she tries to push it away putting on an expressionless mask, but Draco can see through is. Astoria is panicking on the inside, she knows Draco has the goods. "How do you know about that?" she asks, her voice thin.

"I work at the Ministry, dear. I make it my business to know what's going on, especially in my lovely wife's life," Draco says calmly, folding his hands in his lap as he leans back in the chair.

"You bastard," Astoria spits, storming across the room to stare out the window, arms crossed over her chest. Draco knows she's running over possible ways to explain what she knows is coming next, but Draco doesn't give her the chance.

Standing from the chair, Draco crosses the room to stand next to his wife, staring down at her as she looks out the window. "I talked to the agent in charge. You can easily be connected to the crime, babe. All I need to do is bring up a few points of evidence I have against you and you will be joining your lover in the hot seat," Draco says, his voice barely above a whisper, but his words are strong and carry a whole hell of a lot of meaning. This is the test, this will tell Draco is Astoria will back down or not.

"You have nothing," Astoria snaps, whipping around to face Draco, the ends of her hair whipping against his chest in the process.

"Do you really want to test your theory, babe?" Draco asks, cocking his head to the side, voice carrying an undertone of threat. Earlier he had nothing, but yet again Blaise had come through, digging up enough threads of evidence that they could easily be woven into the case. Draco had no intention of telling unless Astoria drove him to it.

"What do you want?" Astoria glares at him, eyes deadly.

"I want out," Draco answers simply. "Out of this marriage, out of your clutches. You give that to me and you can walk out of this house with your dignity in tack and a free woman," he spells it out.

Astoria glances back out the window, the wheels turning in her head. "And if I give you that, you won't tell a soul what you may or may not know?" she asks after a second, voice cold.

"You're secrets will die with me, babe. And we both know I can keep a secret," Draco answers, voice still low.

When Astoria doesn't say anything, Draco adds, "Do you really want to chance that I'm bluffing, sweetheart? You should know me well enough to know by now I don't make a move unless I know I can win. You have four days to come to your senses, after that I am going to the Ministry with what I have. The way this plays out is up to you, Astoria," Draco whispers, letting the words sink in before turning and walking towards the door. He knew he wasn't going to get any farther with Astoria tonight if he hadn't made any progress yet. He might as well go spend the rest of the night with his son before everything went down.

"Wait," Astoria's quiet voice stops Draco before he leaves the room. He turns around slowly to face his wife, waiting to hear what she has to say. "Fine, you win. I'll do it," she answers, her words hard, chin still held high.

Draco would be lying if he said Astoria's words didn't catch him off guard. He'd been expecting Astoria to hold on until the bitter end, dragging this out as long as possible, but here she was giving in. Something didn't seem right, but Draco wasn't going to question that now.

With a nod, Draco says, "I'll have Blaise draw up the papers to dissolve the contract. I want you out by the end of Friday."

"And I get my money back?" Astoria asks, brow raised and hands on her hips.

"You will get every penny you ever gave me back with interest. In return you are to stay the hell away from me and if you have no interest in our son, as it appears, you will stay away from him as well. I don't want you hurting him when you decide he's not worth your time," Draco answers, hurting inside for Liam. Liam was going to be devastated when Astoria left, but Draco was hoping he could help pull him through it. He knew Liam would get hurt by Astoria, he already was. His son was all that matter to Draco and he didn't want him growing up in the hostile environment he was currently in. If it wasn't for Narcissa, Liam wouldn't know what a loving mother figure was because Astoria sure as hell wasn't a loving mother figure.

"Fine," Astoria crosses her arms and turns back to the window. "Now get the bloody hell out of my room," she spits.

Without another word, Draco turns and leaves the room leaving his wife to lick her wounds. It felt like a weight was being lifted off of Draco's shoulders as he walked back downstairs. He knew it wasn't over until the ink was on the paper, but this was the first step in the long journey. It seemed to have gone to easy with Astoria and Draco felt as if there was something he was missing, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind for now.

Tonight he would forget about everything else and go spend a nice night with his son and Mum. As much as he wanted to go to the pub and see Hermione, he knew that if things worked out they could do that whenever they wanted. Hermione would be worth the wait, Draco already knew that. Right now, he knew he needed his son the most though.

 **I'd love to know what you think!**


	24. Chapter 24

**I didn't know what I planned when I sat down to write this chapter, but here it is.**

 **I own nothing Harry Potter!**

Hermione takes a sip of her second drink of the night, she's finally starting to feel herself loosen up and stop worrying about what happened between herself and Draco in her office this morning. The problem was, the more alcohol she had, the more Draco seemed to consume her mind. She sat there wondering how is conversation with Astoria was going and wishing he was here. Every time someone new walked through the door she looked up in hopes of seeing the familiar blonde hair of the man she couldn't seem to resist.

Hermione couldn't remember the last time she'd been this ga-ga over a guy, maybe she never had.

"Do you have enough alcohol in you now that you'll tell me what went down between you and Draco earlier?" Ginny asks as she slides back into the booth next to Hermione. Ginny had alternated between pestering her with questions about Draco and flirting with Blaise.

"Gin, I really don't need to hear what my best mate got up to this afternoon," Blaise protests, brown eyes on Ginny and a teasing smirk on his full lips. The way the pair kept looking at each other left no doubt in Hermione's mind that as soon as she headed home, so were they, but they'd be getting up to no good while she went home to her empty house. A pang rushes through Hermione, she wants what Blaise and Ginny seem to have with Draco.

"If it's dirty, I know you do," Ginny sends Blaise a flirty wink before turning her full attention back to Hermione. "What happened, Mione?"

Taking another drink, Hermione steels herself for Ginny's reaction when she tells her what happened. She knew Ginny would keep pestering her until she caved, so Hermione figured it was best to tell Ginny the truth, but as little as possible. "We kind of hooked up," she admits, staring down at her glass as she thinks about Draco's lips and hands on her. As desire rushes down to her core Hermione becomes all to aware that she is still pantiless thanks to Draco. The thought turns her on more. There was no doubt that if Hermione went home alone tonight she'd be taking care of the desire burning between her thighs as she thought of Draco.

"OMG!" Ginny squeals, clapping excitedly. "I want details, tell me everything!" she insists, excitement showing on her face.

"Please, no details," Blaise cuts in, holding up his hands in protest. "I do not want to hear about Draco's escapades," he shakes his head adamantly.

"Too bad, I do," Ginny turns back to Hermione. "Spill."

Blaise saves Hermione from having to talk when he asks, "Do you share all the details of our sex life?" He has a stern look on his face, but it's clear he finds humor in this whole situation.

"Maybe," Ginny says noncommittally, a smirk on her face. The truth was, Ginny hadn't told Hermione much of anything about her relationship with Blaise except that it was hot and she was going to give him a chance. That was all Hermione needed to know. She was glad her friend was happy and all, but she did not need to know the sordid details of her sex life with Blaise. Hermione would much rather have her own sordid sex life than talk about Ginny's.

"She doesn't," Hermione cuts in and assures Blaise. "And don't worry, I'm not telling her anymore than I just did," she adds, shooting a warning look at Ginny. If Hermione had any intention of spilling all the details about her relationship with Draco, it definitely wasn't going to be sitting in the middle of a pub with Blaise at the table.

"You're no fun," Ginny pouts, taking a sip of her own drink and changing the subject.

Hermione sits there nursing her drink and listening to Ginny ramble on about random things, piping up when needed. The whole time she was looking for Draco to arrive, but knew he wouldn't be joining them tonight. He had much bigger problems to deal with and after all, Hermione had told him they needed to keep their distance until Astoria was out of the picture. Her pulsing core told her that had been a stupid decision, but she knew it was the right thing. That didn't mean she couldn't fantasize about Draco tonight while she put her vibrator to use.

The thought of 'me' time with her trusty vibrator and thoughts of Draco had Hermione's body heating and core pulsing unbearably. Suddenly she needed to get out of there and fix her little problem before she did something stupid or embarrassing, like run her fingers up her thigh to find her wet pulsing desire.

Downing the rest of her drink, Hermione announces she should get going home and leaves Ginny and Blaise in their own little sexually charged world. Rushing out the front door, Hermione barrels into a strong chest. Hands reach out to steady her, catching her from falling. "Are you okay, babe?" a familiar voice rings in Hermione's ears as she registers what just happened. In her rush to get home and take care of her little problem, she'd run right into Ron.

"I'm sorry, Ron. I was just heading home," Hermione takes a step back from her ex-husband and rakes a hand through her hair trying to calm her racing heart. She had never gotten this hot and bothered by simple thoughts of Ron. It appeared only Draco had this affect on her and she wasn't sure that was a good thing.

"Are you okay? You seem flustered," Ron asks, studying Hermione with concerned blue eyes. He knew her well enough to know what the look in her eyes meant, but he also appeared to know better than to point it out. Ron had definitely changed in the last few years, Lavender had been good for him.

"Just a bit," Hermione waves his concern off. "I'll be fine, it's just been a long day," she shrugs.

"Okay," Ron nods slowly, seeming as if he was trying to decide if he should press the topic more or not. He decided not to, smart man. "I'll see you on Friday for dinner with Grace?" he asks.

"Of course," Hermione nods, just now remembering she had arranged to have dinner with Ron and Lavender when they came to pick Grace up on Friday night. Too much had been going on lately and it had slipped her mind. In the back of her mind, Hermione wondered if maybe she could invite Draco and Liam to dinner too. She'd have to see how things would go.

Ron nods again before saying, "See you later, Hermione."

"See you, Ron," Hermione forces a smile before continuing her race for home. She would worry about dinner with Ron later, right now she needed to take care of the desire racing through her.

Back in her apartment Hermione had grabbed her vibrator, ripped of her clothes and now lay on her bed wearing nothing as she slowly, teasingly pressed the vibrator to her clit, free hand massaging her full breast and teasing her nipple as little waves of desire spread through her.

Hermione's eyes drift closed as she slowly sinks the vibrator into her hot slick opening imagining the thick cock she knew hid under Draco's pants sliding in and out of her and his hands massaged her breasts and his hot mouth devoured hers.

Moaning mercilessly as Draco pounds into her time after time, Hermione's hips buck up to meet his her clit grinding against his pelvis drawing waves of pleasure from Hermione. Panting and moving frantically against his rigid cock, Hermione chases the orgasm the is in sight building within her.

Draco tugs at her nipples, juggling her breasts and his hips slam into hers as he fucks her hard and fast. Moving faster and faster against him, Hermione feels the familiar pleasure building inside him, moans pouring from her mouth as Draco fucks her into oblivion.

A loud cry falls from Hermione's mouth as her hips move frantically in jagged motions as her inner walls tighten and she falls over the edge, body spasming as Draco brings her to her climax.

Coming down from her high, vibrator still buzzing against her clit, preparing her for another round, Hermione realizes she's alone. Draco wasn't the one bringing her the pleasure, it was her hands and the vibrator. But oh it had seemed so real.

Pushing those thoughts from her head, Hermione starts her climb to a second climax, if she couldn't have Draco here, imagining him bringing her to that edge was as good as it would get. Maybe one day he'd be the one bringing her to orgasm, one day very very soon.

Surrendering herself to her hands, Hermione imagines Draco in her room once again, relishing in the thought until she is laying is a panting exhausted mess on her bed, body satisfied for the time being.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Here's the next chapter.**

 **I own nothing Harry Potter!**

"This almost seems too easy," Blaise says as he leans back in his desk chair, arms folded behind his head. Draco had just told him how everything had gone down last night and how Astoria had agreed to end their marriage.

"I've been thinking the same thing," Draco nods in agreement. He'd laid in bed last night tossing and turning as he tried to figure out any possible ulterior motive Astoria had to agreeing to his terms so quickly. It couldn't be this easy, she had to have something waiting in the wings, but he had no clue what.

"Well, I'll draw up the papers, but I'd sleep with one eye open if I were you. And stay away from Granger until this is over," Blaise warns, brown eyes knowing.

"I'll try my best," Draco sighs, leaning back in the chair across from Blaise's desk. He knew it would be in his best interests to stay away from Hermione until this was all over, but every ounce of him wanted see her. He would go visit her after this and then he would keep his distance until everything with Astoria was resolved. He wasn't about to risk finally being happy. He could resist Hermione for a little while longer because once Astoria was out of the picture nothing would be holding him back.

"I can almost guarantee you Astoria will be following your every move and if you trip up she will use it against you," Blaise points out as he leans forward to rest his folded hands on his desk.

"I know," Draco nods again. He'd come to that same conclusion last night. "I will stop by and talk to Hermione right after this and then I will steer clear of her until things are resolved," he says, knowing he probably shouldn't even visit Hermione now, but unable to resist one more visit.

"Good. I'll let you know when I have something together for you to review," Blaise nods, dismissing Draco and getting down to work.

"Thanks, man," Draco nods at his friend as he stands and heads towards the door. "I really appreciate it all." Draco would draw up the papers himself, but since he was involved in the situation he wasn't exactly an unconcerned third party, not that Blaise was either.

"No problem," Blaise sends Draco a quick smile before turning back to his papers on his desk and getting to work.

A knock on her office door startled Hermione out of her daydreams. Any time her mind had gotten the chance to wander, it had ended up replaying the fantasies she'd had of Draco last night. That wasn't a good thing because it left her hot and bothered again.

Pushing those thoughts away and gathering herself, Hermione looks up to see the subject of her fantasies standing in the doorway. "Hey," Hermione manages to get out, voice rough with lack of use and lust. Her heart picks up pace at the sight of Draco in his typical white button down and black slacks. His hair is ruffled like he'd run his hands through it time and time again. It reminded Hermione of how it had looked after she'd run her fingers through the silky locks as they'd made out yesterday. _Don't let you mind go there, Hermione!_

"Hey, do you have a minute?" Draco asks as he steps into the office and closes the door behind him, memories of yesterday flash through Hermione's mind. Ginny was out in the field today so they had the whole office to themselves. The thought had Hermione's blood rushing downward.

"Sure," she breathes, voice catching and she clears her throat. She needs to get a hold of herself before Draco sees she's drooling all over him like a bloody dog in heat.

"I just want to make sure you know what's going on with everything," Draco starts as he moves across the office in a few steps to take a seat in the chair across from Hermione's desk.

"Okay," Hermione nods, heart skipping a beat at the thought. She can feel her cheeks heating up as thoughts of what she'd done last night while thinking of Draco pop into her mind. A small smile slides onto Draco's lips and Hermione feels like he can read her mind. "What's going on?" Hermione asks, trying to derail her thoughts of Draco pounding into her. Thoughts like that could only lead to trouble right now.

"Astoria has agreed to sign the papers to end this marriage," Draco answers, grey eyes studying Hermione across the desk.

"That easily?" Hermione asks, stomach flipping at the thought. If Astoria was agreeable to ending her marriage with Draco that would give Hermione the all clear to pursue her desires. The problem was, after the outburst Hermione had been witness to Friday night, it caught her by surprise that Astoria was willing to let Draco go that easily. Something didn't feel right.

"Yeah, I'm surprised too by that, but I'm going to push forward," Draco answers, running a hand through his blonde hair, mussing it up. "She could be afraid that I can link her to the capture of Seth McCoy, but I'm not sure."

"What if she's playing you?" Hermione asks, suspicion taking over and pushing any dirty thoughts about Draco away. She is now in investigator mode, ready to do what she can to help Draco resolve this issue with his wife.

"Then I'll deal with the fall out, but I can't not try to end this quickly and civilly, maybe she's finally come around," Draco answers, but his tone is skeptical. It's like he knows his wife may have something up her sleeve. "But we need to keep our distance while this whole things is going down because I don't want anyone caught in the cross hairs. This is a battle between Astoria and I and I'm not willing to risk any casualties," he explains, running a hand over the back of his neck, concern showing in his grey eyes.

"Of course," Hermione nods quickly. "Nothing should be going on between us anyway, you're married," she says, guilt washing over her once again at the fact that she had been helping Draco cheat on his wife. That was something so out of character for Hermione that she was having a hard time processing it still.

Draco nods, running a hand through his hair again before his eyes meet hers. "I need you to know one thing before I put distance between us, Hermione," Draco pauses, grey eyes searching hers making sure she's ready to hear what he has to say. Hermione nods, giving him the go ahead to continue. "I am coming for you when this is all over. I'm not going to give up on what's developing between us. Will you be waiting?" he asks, face open and vulnerable as he admits what he's feeling.

Hermione feels her heart melt in her chest at Draco's words and what they meant. This wasn't a one sided attraction, not that Hermione had thought it was, but now she knew for sure. Draco wanted to pursue whatever was happening between them and he was telling Hermione exactly what he was going to do. How could Hermione say she wasn't going to be waiting for him? Especially when she knew she was helplessly, hopelessly falling in love with Draco Malfoy.

"I'll be waiting," Hermione's voice is small as her throat starts to clog with emotion. This thing between them was more than just sexual attraction and Hermione was just starting to realize that.

"Good, because you'll give me a reason to fight this thing until the very end. I'm not going to let Astoria control me anymore when I could have you instead of her," Draco's voice is low, full of meaning, as he reaches across the desk to rest his hand on hers. The gently contact has shivers shooting through Hermione's body. She had never felt this kind of tingling attraction to anyone and she wasn't ready to give it up.

"If you need help with anything along the way, let me know," Hermione sends Draco a small smile, doing her best to keep the extreme happiness rushing through her off her face. She didn't need to let Draco know just how happy she was that he seemed to feel the same was that she did. Their relationship wasn't ready to go there yet.

"I will, babe," Draco smiles as he stands from his chair. Hermione's stomach flips in disappointment when she thinks Draco is standing to leave, but instead of heading towards the door, he walks over to stand in front of her leaning down to rest his large hands on the arms of the chair, trapping her. Hermione's body kicks into overdrive at Draco's proximity and the heated look in his grey eyes. "One more kiss before we part ways for the time being?" Draco asks, voice low and husky as he leans closer.

Hermione can smell his spicy cologne and the scent washes over her, heightening the desire racing through her. One more kiss, that would have to be enough. Instead of responding, Hermione reaches up and cups the back of Draco's head, pulling his lips down to meet hers in a heated kiss.

Body on fire, Hermione lets herself get lost in the feel of Draco's warm lips brushing against hers as she melts under his touch. Thoughts of how much farther she wants this to go flip through Hermione's mind as she surrenders to Draco.

All too soon Draco is pulling away, looking down at Hermione with darkened stormy grey eyes. With a deep breath and a shake of his head, Draco stands and takes a step back lacing his hands behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. Hermione knows he's trying to control himself and stop this from going any farther.

"We are really going to need to keep our distance because there's no way in hell I'll be able to resist kissing you like that again if we see each other," Draco groans as his eyes part from the ceiling and slide down to meet Hermione's again.

"The feeling's mutual," Hermione lets out a small laugh as she tries to calm her racing heart. Draco will definitely be worth the wait. Now she just needed to resist him until then.

"Well I should get out of here before things go any farther, but I will make sure you're kept in the loop," Draco sighs, running a hand over his face and nodding towards the door.

"I'm sure you'll tell Blaise and Blaise will tell Ginny and Ginny will tell me," Hermione lets out another small laugh, knowing if she doesn't keep the mood light and humorous she'll either end up throwing herself at Draco or wallow in self pity that she can't see Draco until this is all over, neither of those are good options.

"Exactly," Draco smiles, taking a step towards the door and putting some much needed distance between them, the air as tingling with attraction.

"Well, I will stay out of your way while you sort things out with Astoria and best of luck," she sends him a small smile, feeling like she's saying goodbye. Something seems final about this, but she knows that won't be the case. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt any less to see Draco walking towards the door and out of her life even if it's just for the moment.

"Thank you, Hermione," he sends her a small smile as he reaches the door. "Start thinking about where you want our first date to take place," he sends a wink her way as he opens the door and steps out.

"In bed," Hermione mutters under her breath, knowing that as soon as Draco is free of Astoria, Hermione won't be able to contain her desires anymore. Now she just needed this whole things to speed up so she didn't have to deal with the aching of loss in her chest for much longer.

In the short time that she'd been involved with Draco, Hermione had started to fall head over heels for him. And even though she knew everything taking place right now was for the best she still couldn't stop the hurt of seeing Draco walk away. If this all worked out one day Draco could be hers and that's what Hermione was going to need to keep focused on if she wanted to make it through this without doubting what was developing between the two of them. It took Draco walking away, even if it was for her own good, for Hermione to realize he owned her heart. How had that happened so quickly and without Hermione knowing?

 **Thanks for reading!**


	26. Chapter 26

**This chapter is in Astoria's POV.**

 **I own nothing Harry Potter!**

"So you're really going to go through with it?" a voice catches Astoria off guard as she moves about her room gathering up her things. She'd decided to give in and give Draco what he wanted, a divorce. Deep down it's what she'd been wanting for years too.

Whipping around, Astoria comes face to face with Narcissa Malfoy, her mother-in-law who had recently made it clear she had no use for Astoria. Suppressing a groan, Astoria makes herself remain civil, being a bitch is the last thing she needs to do right now. She wants to hold her head high and walk out of Draco's life without her tail between her legs and her pride still intact.

"I am," Astoria nods, brushing her hair back from her neck. Over the last few days Astoria had spent a lot of time reflecting on what had become of her life and she didn't like what she saw. Somewhere along the way she had turned into a cold hearted bitch, a person she didn't recognize in the mirror.

In the beginning, Astoria had been in love with Draco, but after years of tension something had changed. She knew Draco had married her to save his estate, but there had been affection between them. It hadn't lasted. When Astoria had gotten pregnant with Liam things had started to change for her, she realized she was stuck in a loop that she couldn't get out of and now she had a child to take care of, something she had no clue how to do. The thought scared the shit out of her and when she'd seen what a natural father Draco was, she started pulling away, distancing herself from everything. It hadn't been a conscious choice but it had happened and now here she was, the cold hearted bitch who her husband didn't want to touch and her son was afraid of. She needed to change that before she was stuck that way forever.

"What finally brought you to your senses?" Narcissa asks, piercing eyes searching Astoria's face.

"I don't want to live this way any longer," Astoria answers with a shrug. If Astoria was honest with herself she hadn't been in love with Draco for a long time and she knew he wasn't happy in their marriage. Over the last few years, even knowing he wanted out, she didn't everything she could to hold him closer because she was afraid of what she couldn't control. When Draco had finally grew a pair and realized he needed to stand up to Astoria, she lost every ounce of control. The thought scared her, but it also excited her. If she went along with what Draco wanted, maybe Astoria would be able to find herself again. She'd started searching for what used to be and she was finding success in realizing what she really wanted.

Astoria wanted to live a life where she didn't feel trapped and in Malfoy Manor she felt trapped. She'd always felt trapped but she was finally just realizing it now that Draco had brought a separation up. As much as Astoria had been fighting the outcome, she now realized it was what both she and Draco needed.

"And you're going to walk away from my son without causing a scene?" Narcissa poses a very good question. That exact question is part of the reason Astoria is giving Draco what he wants. She doesn't want to be the one keeping him from happiness. She doesn't want to be the constant source of drama. Her life wasn't a bloody soap opera and she needed to stop trying to live it that way. All Astoria wanted was to be happy and she hadn't been happy in a long, long time.

"I am," Astoria nods, understanding Narcissa's skepticism. "I just want to be happy and I want Draco and Liam to be happy. I don't make them happy," she shakes her head sadly. "I fucked up and I need to make it right," she finds herself admitting.

Nacrissa's eyes study Astoria for a second before a small smile breaks on her lips. "There's the girl I used to know," she muses as she crosses the room to rest a hand on Astoria's shoulder. "Why have you been hiding?"

Astoria can't help but smile. Narcissa's words struck a chord. Astoria had been hiding the real her for years now behind a shell of a cold hearted bitch. "I don't know, but I'm not going back," Astoria shakes her head, unwilling to go back to the way things had been before. She was done with that life, done with the likes of Seth McCoy, done with trying to ruin Draco's life, done with hurting her son. You could say she'd had a change of heart or an epiphany and she had Draco to thank for that.

If Draco hadn't given her an ultimatum she would have continued on down the trail of darkness that she wouldn't be able to dig herself out of. Now here she was standing with Narcissa and knowing who she really was, who she wanted to be. Astoria was ready to pick up her life and continue on like she should have after the war was over. She shouldn't have married Draco to save his estate and she shouldn't have forced him to stay in this loveless marriage because it had been hurting her as much as it had been hurting him. She should never have gotten tangled up with Seth McCoy because it had almost landed her beside him in custody of the Ministry. There was still a chance that that could happen, but Astoria had to have hope Draco would keep what he knew to himself. After all, Draco was a good guy.

"Good because you both deserve happiness and it's clear you're not finding it together," Narcissa smiles, patting her shoulder comfortingly again.

"We do," Astoria nods, looking around the mostly empty room. She really wasn't going to miss living in this dark and dreary house. Something about it had always given her the creeps, but she'd pushed that feeling down years ago. It was back now.

"What are you going to do about Liam?" Narcissa asks, bringing up a thought that had been plaguing Astoria's mind since she'd decided she was going to give Draco what he wanted. She would be the first to admit that she had not been much of a mother to Liam so far, Narcissa had been filling in in that role, but she wanted a chance to get to know her son. Before she could do that though, she needed to figure out who she was and what she wanted now.

"I want to try to be a mother to him, but I'm not sure that will ever happen," she admits, a feeling of sadness washing over her. What if she failed her son more than she already had? Even if she wanted a second chance with Liam, would Draco allow it? She wouldn't blame him if he didn't. She had been a bitch.

"If you want it to, it will," Narcissa reassures. "I know Draco would love for Liam to have a real mother in his life, not the shell you've been."

Astoria just nods, wondering if what she says is true. Somehow she doubted it. How could Draco want her to be a mother to her son when she'd failed him time and time again, pushing him away and scolding him for no reason?

"Why don't we have some tea and talk about what's on your mind?" Narcissa suggests when she sees the war going on inside of Astoria's thoughts.

"Okay," she nods, slowly, wanting someone to talk to about all of this. Narcissa was really the only connection she had anymore. She'd pushed any friends she'd had away and now that she was giving up her bitchiness all of those friends were of no interest to her. Astoria was going to be starting from scratch and she was afraid but excited by the prospect.

 **I know this may seem like a sudden change, but I feel like it was needed. I don't want Astoria to be purely evil. She wants whats best for her son even if she hasn't seemed like it to this point. If you don't like it, sorry, but I couldn't draw this out any longer. It's almost time for Dramione.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	27. Chapter 27

**I own nothing Harry Potter!**

The next few days passed in a blur for Draco as he went through the motions the whole time his mind busy playing out possible outcomes of this split with Astoria. He still had a feeling something else was going to happen, this couldn't be this easy after all of these drawn out years. Draco hadn't seen Hermione since he'd stopped by her office to tell her what was going on and it was now Friday night.

He'd heard through the grapevine, being Blaise and Ginny, that Hermione was busy tonight with a dinner with Ron and his girlfriend. Oh, how Draco would love to be there with them, but he had other things that needed to get taken care of tonight.

Draco found himself pacing the study at Malfoy Manor as he waited for Astoria to make her appearance. Blaise was sitting behind the desk laying out papers for them to sign. He had prepared the documents to end Draco and Astoria's marriage and the time had come to end this once and for all. It seemed surreal right now. As much as Draco knew he wanted this, there was still a niggling of doubt in the back of his brain, mostly for Liam's sake. How was his son going to react to all of this? How was he going to take the fact that his mother was going to be leaving and probably wouldn't be part of his life any more? Would it help or hurt the young boy? It's not like Astoria had been a loving mother up to this point, but that didn't mean Liam wasn't going to be affected by her absence.

"Are you okay, man?" Blaise asks from his post behind the desk, brown eyes concerned and locked on Draco.

"I don't know," Draco sighs, raking a hand through his already mussed blonde hair and moving to sit opposite Blaise in one of the two chairs they'd set up for this occasion. "I'm worried about Liam," he answers as he leans forward and stares at the ground. His Mum had taken Liam out for the night so he wouldn't have to be present in case this all blew up in their faces.

"He's a tough little guy, he'll be fine," Blaise assures, leaning back in the desk chair.

Draco just nods in response knowing Blaise is right about Liam. The little guy was tough and he would get through this, especially with his loving family and friends around.

"Will you be though?" Blaise asks after a beat of silence passes, posing a thought Draco hadn't even considered. Would he be okay after this whole this with Astoria was over? The answer was yes, it might take some getting used to, but it would give him the chance to finally explore the life he wanted for himself. He was hoping that life would include a certain know it all brunette.

"Yes, I'll be fine," Draco nods, flicking his eyes up to meet Blaise's.

Before Draco has a chance to say anything else, the click of heels in the hallway pulls both guys attention to the study door. "Let's get this over with," Astoria appears in the doorway, a resigned look about her.

Draco hadn't seen her but once since she'd agreed to sign the papers and from what he would tell she had started to gather he belongings and get everything ready for her inevitable departure. That made Draco think that maybe she really was going to go through with this and not pull some stunt to get her way.

"Take a seat and we'll get started," Blaise gestures to the empty chair next to Draco his professional persona coming out. Draco watches as Astoria crosses the room to sit next to him. Something about her today reminded him of the girl he had married years ago. She was lacking her recent haughty aura and for a second Draco felt sorry for her. He caught himself though, remembering she had been the sole person to cause him years of distress and annoyance. Ever since Liam was born, Astoria had seemed to make Draco's life a living hell, setting obstacles up to just annoy him and make things difficult.

Blaise went on to explain everything in the contracts sitting in front of them, telling them how Draco would be paying Astoria back every penny of her inheritance with interest and how once these papers were signed their marriage contract would no longer be valid. They nodded at the right times and absorbed the information Blaise was telling them. Draco knew all this information since he had drawn up his fair share of papers like this over the years, but he was on the opposite side of the table today. It was his marriage that was being annulled.

When Blaise was finished going over everything, Astoria spoke up for the first time since she'd walked into the room. "Blaise, can I have a moment with my husband before we sign these papers?" she asks, her voice small as she glances between the two guys.

"Draco?" Blaise asks, raising his eyebrows at his friend and asking his permission.

"It's okay, Blaise," Draco nods at his friend, glancing over at his soon to be ex-wife, wandering what she has to say.

"We're really doing this?" Astoria asks when Blaise is gone. There is a pain in her voice that strikes a chord in Draco's heart. Sitting next to him is the girl he had once loved, he'd always known she was still hidden behind the shell she'd put on lately, but he hadn't expected her reappearance to affect him.

Pushing those thoughts down, Draco answers quietly, "We are."

"How did it come to this?" she whispers almost to herself as her eyes scan the room. There isn't an ounce of the Astoria Draco had become accustomed to seeing, the cold hearted bitch was gone.

"Things changed," Draco answers with a shrug. "We aren't the same starry eyed people who got married all those years ago."

"Was this ever more than a business arrangement for you, Draco?" Astoria asks, turning watery eyes towards Draco. He hadn't seen Astoria close to tears since before Liam was born. The sight had Draco wanting to pull her close and comfort her, but he knows he can't. He doesn't think this is, but this could all be an elaborate act on Astoria's part to change Draco's mind, but that wasn't going to happen.

"You know it was, babe," Draco answers, reaching out and patting her shoulder gently. "But things have changed, drastically. You have to see that."

"I know it has," she lets out a sigh, backing away from his touch. "I turned into a bitch and you started shutting me out. Liam changed everything."

"He did," Draco nods in agreement. "I just want what's best for all of us and you know damn well he can't keep being raised in a home where there is so much tension and hostility between his parents." Liam is Draco's sole reason for doing anything anymore and whatever is best for Liam is best for Draco. Even if that meant staying with Astoria, but they both knew the arrangement they had going on now wasn't working.

"I know," Astoria nods.

"Do you even love him?" Draco asks the question he's been wondering about for years now. At first Astoria had been an adorable doting young mother, but by the time Liam had turned one Astoria was closing herself off and Draco was taking over caring for their son.

"I do," Astoria nods immediately before pausing to collect her thoughts. "I just…I'm just afraid I'm going to mess him up or do something wrong to make him hate me. Everyone always turns on me at some point or another. You're doing it right now."

"Liam is more likely to turn on you if you're a bitch to him than if you're a mother," Draco counters, folding his arms across his chest and studying Astoria. What she was saying made no sense, but that didn't mean much. Nothing was really making sense to Draco anymore.

"I'm aware of that," Astoria snaps, running a hand through her hair a pissed off streak making itself known. "I just…I'm not cut out to be a mother or a wife for that matter," she scoffs with a roll of her eyes, folding her arms across her chest to reflect Draco.

"That's not true and you know it," Draco shakes his head. "It takes work to be a mother and a wife. You didn't work at it with Liam and neither of us worked at our marriage. That's how we got to where we are now."

"You're right," she sighs, giving in as her shoulder droop.

"It's not too late you know," Draco adds after a second. "To be a mother to Liam that is," he corrects. It is way past too late to save their marriage. There was no saving a loveless marriage when Draco was finding himself falling in love with someone else. Someone he'd had feelings for for years even if he hadn't acknowledged them until recently.

"But it is," Astoria shakes her head. "He already likes you so much better."

"Being a parent isn't a competition. There is room for both of us in Liam's life. You just need to try, Astoria," Draco advices, surprised at himself. Who would have ever thought Draco Malfoy would ever be giving anyone parenting advice? In the past he would have thought the roles of him and Astoria right now would have been reversed. It's not like he'd ever had a good father figure, but his mum had picked up the slack and shown him what a real parent was like. Draco was proud to say he was the dad to Liam that he wished he'd had growing up.

"You mean you'll let me see him?" Astoria asks hesitantly like she's afraid Draco will say no.

"Of course," Draco nods. "He's you're son too."

"Okay," she nods slowly. "I guess we should sign those papers now, huh?" she nods her head towards the papers sitting on the desk and just like that Draco knows she's done putting up a fight. Astoria is surprisingly going to let him out of this marriage without any farther drama. He didn't know why, but he didn't care. For once he was going to take what he wanted without questioning it.

"Before we do that, I have one more question for you," Draco says, needing to have one more answer before they proceed. "Why are you so suddenly willing to sign these papers?" Draco needed her to kill his suspicions before he could sign these papers without waiting for the other foot to drop.

With a sigh, Astoria brushes her hair back from her face. "I'm just sick and tired of pretending everything is okay. I'm ready to move on and live my life without worrying about what you're going to do next to make sure this marriage is ended. It's just easier to get it over with and move passed it," she answers with a shrug.

"I'll get Blaise," Draco nods as he stands from his chair and head to retrieve his friend from the hallway. Astoria's words having settled his doubts about this whole thing. This was for the best, for both of them.

"Well it looks like you're a free man," Blaise pats Draco on the back when Astoria has left the room to gather her things. The papers are signed and finalized and Draco is no longer married. It felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, but there was also an emptiness in his chest left behind by what had used to be and what could have been. Tonight he had seen the Astoria he had married, but he knew he wasn't the one he wanted anymore. She was a poison to Draco and he couldn't stay with her knowing that.

"It appears that way," Draco nods, staring into space as he tries to process the fact that he and Astoria are no longer married. Tomorrow he would need to explain to Liam what had happened and assure him he would still see his Mum from time to time. Draco had agreed to let Astoria attend dinner at the Manor whenever she wanted to see Liam. He didn't know if she'd take him up on the offer, but he hoped she did for Liam's sake.

"What was that conversation about?" Blaise asks, talking about the conversation Draco and Astoria had had before they'd signed the papers.

"It's complicated," Draco sighs as he rakes a hand through his hair. "Astoria was the woman I remember marrying tonight, not the cold hearted bitch I'm used to," he admits.

Blaise nods in understanding, Draco knew he'd seen it too. "How do you want to celebrate? Your Mum has Liam for the night, right?"

"She does," Draco nods, his mind wandering to just exactly how he wanted to celebrate which involved a certain brunette and a lack of clothing, but he thought it might be too quick to jump to that sort of celebration.

"Want to hit the pub? I'll owl Ginny and have her meet us there," Blaise suggests and Draco finds himself nodding. If he couldn't live out all of his fantasies tonight with Hermione he might as well have a drink with his friend and his girlfriend. Maybe, just maybe, Hermione might make an appearance after her dinner with her ex-husband and daughter.

It felt surreal, Draco couldn't seem to wrap his head around the fact that nothing stood in his way of getting what he wanted anymore. Astoria was no longer his wife, Draco Malfoy was once again a free man.

 **Thanks for reading!**


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